What I really cooked

Thinking that I might never see leeks on Culebra again, it was hard to decide what to do with them, so many recipes looked excellent and delicious. But this one seemed to be exactly what I wanted, with a few additions of my own.



Pan Roasted Leeks & Chicken (basic recipe is taken from foodandwine.com - recipe by Nancy Harmon Jenkins)

Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3. 10 medium leeks (3 pounds)—trimmed, slit and rinsed (I used two leeks)
   
4. Salt and freshly ground pepper
5. One 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I used leftover chicken, maybe 1 pound worth)
   
6. 3 rosemary sprigs, halved
7. *
   

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet. Add the leeks; cook over moderately high heat, turning, until browned in spots, 6 minutes. Transfer to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, season with salt and pepper and roast for 10 minutes, or until beginning to soften.
2. Wipe out the skillet. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and rosemary to the skillet; cook over moderate heat until browned, about 10 minutes. Set the chicken on the leeks, skin side up, add the rosemary and roast for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the leeks are very tender. Serve hot.

* I added sauteed crimini mushrooms & diced red and green hot peppers as well as cherry tomatoes. I used 1 tablespoon less butter and olive oil and added marsala wine, along with leftover rotisseried chicken with the most of the skin removed.



And wa la...a dinner that will be way too much food for one meal, (with the altered amounts I used), so it will be dinner, lunch and munch. It would work overly well for two, and if rice was added - I'd go with yellow rice, for the color as well as the taste - you could serve 3 or 4. Really.

Buen provecho!