September 13, 2011: Garlic Chicken and Potatoes Recipe

What do you get when you take loads of garlic, chicken and canned potatoes? Besides the fact that these are all some of my favorite ingredients, when you put them together you get a yummy, hearty dinner perfect for any night of the week. After just a few minutes of preparation, the pan goes into the oven and you can walk away for an hour while it bakes to perfection.

Garlic Chicken and Potatoes

1 T. olive oil

4 pieces of bone-in, skin-on chicken (your choice of breast or dark meat)

20 cloves garlic

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1 pint canned white potatoes (or 1 can)

1 t. kosher salt

1 T. Montreal Chicken Seasoning

In a large ovenproof skillet, add the olive oil and heat to medium. Add the pieces of chicken, cooking for a couple minutes per side, until lightly browned. Remove the chicken to a plate. Add the garlic, shallots and drained potatoes to the pan. Place the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables and sprinkle with salt and seasoning blend.

I cooked this dish in a cast iron skillet, using a really big thigh quarter and breast.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pan of chicken and vegetables, uncovered, for 50 – 60 minutes, until juices are no longer pink and the skin is crispy.

Serves 4.

Tip: If you don’t have or can’t find Montreal Chicken Seasoning, substitute a combination of freshly ground black pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, and red pepper.

September 7, 2011: Canned Potatoes Recipe

I took the opportunity over Labor Day weekend to… well, labor. I put up another dozen ears of wonderfully sweet Taylor corn, green beans from my pastor’s garden, and also some huge potatoes I’d bought earlier at the farmer’s market.

I don’t quite know what it is, but I absolutely love canned potatoes. Their texture is just so creamy and their flavor becomes richer when preserved in water. For once, my husband and I have found something we agree upon: canned potatoes are just darned good!

Although I couldn’t find a recipe in my pressure canner book for regular, white russet potatoes, I followed the one for new potatoes with a couple slight tweaks and they came out just great!

These are my very large taters before and after canning. I couldn't find plain citric acid so I used this fresh fruit preserver from Ball, which is mostly citric acid.

Canned Potatoes

About 8 – 10 pounds potatoes (to can 10 pint jars)

2 t. citric acid

Water

Dissolve the citric acid in a large bowl of water. Clean and peel the potatoes. Cut them into medium-sized chunks and immerse them in the bowl of water with citric acid (this prevents them from getting brown). Drain.

Using a large stock pot, add potato chunks and enough water to completely cover them; bring to a boil. Boil the potatoes for five minutes. Turn off the heat.

Carefully ladle the potatoes into 10 clean pint jars. Use the liquid from boiling them to cover the potatoes to within an inch of the top. Place lids and screw bands on top of the jars.

Process potatoes at 11 pounds pressure (below 2,000 feet altitude), 12 pounds (for 3,000 – 4,000 feet above sea level), 13 pounds (for 5 – 6,000 feet) or 14 pounds pressure (above 6,000 feet in altitude) for a total of 40 minutes after your pressure canner gets up to the correct pressure.