Long Fridays, Shortcut Chicken Dinner & Flowers

Oh long Friday’s  – How I have been eagerly waiting for you since the last clock change!

It seems my whole life I have lived for long leisurely Fridays.

When I was single and working in corporate American, I would always negotiate Fridays off instead of raise in pay. It was so worth it for me! When I opened the restaurant, I made it a rule almost right away – no Fridays! And now when I am just a mother, on these long Friday’s  I unashamedly pawn off my child to her father, and say she is yours – today is my day (well most weeks at least) .

What do I do? Well everything! – I have cooking Shabbos down to an hour or two at most – even with company. I am not a fan of serving a hundred choices, I make a meal, all entrées and sides compliment each other and are at a minimum. Nothing aggravates and depresses me more than throwing out food – I literally have my grandmother in my ear saying “we would have given our right arm to eat that  (insert food item)during the war.”

So I am up early, shopped, cooked, and cleaned by 11:00 AM.

Then it is errands that are really things I need to do for myself that I have pushed off a whole week feeling guilty taking time away from my family & work obligations. And of course, it is that much needed long coffee break at my favorite Barnes & Knobles with or with out friends, while I catch up on all my favorite books and magazines.

So if I am home by 4, just as my child pulls into the driveway, I have a few hours left to spend playing and enjoying these beautiful LONG FRIDAYS and go into Shabbos happy and relaxed because I took a little me time today.

Call me selfish… well maybe a little– but for me personally,  this works! It makes me feel good and you know the saying  – Happy Mother, Happy Family!

Have a fantastic Shabbat!

till next week….Sarah

Short Cut Chicken

(otherwise known as Garlic & Herb Chicken)

Garlic and Herb Chicken

This is by far hands down, my most favorite way to eat and cook chicken. This delicious
one pot meal is a brilliant choice for regular weekday or Shabbos dinner. I use it’s
leftovers for everything from chicken salad to Mediterranean chicken pita sandwiches.

The beauty of it being a one pot meal, other than some grilled vegetables and a nice large salad  – it makes the easiest light main course for those very late Friday night meals.

1 whole chicken

2 heads of garlic (about 20 cloves)

1 bag boiler onions, tops cut off and semi peeled

Kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper

2 tsp. fennel seeds

2 tsp. fresh dill

2 tsp. cilantro

2 tsp. ginger

2 tsp. parsley

Olive oil

6 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered

Paprika

1 ½ cups semi dry white wine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stuff the whole chicken with a quarter of the fresh garlic cloves and as many boiler
onions as you can fit. Lay chicken belly up and generously sprinkle salt and pepper onto
its skin and in its cavity. Use your hands to massage it onto the skin. Do the same with
half the fennel seeds and half of all the herbs.

Place the whole chicken into the dutch oven belly down, and repeat sprinkling the salt & pepper and rubbing in the rest of the herbs on the top side ofthe chicken. Drizzle a little of the olive oil over the top of the chicken, for glazing.

Add your quartered potatoes around your chicken, and then add the rest of the garlic and onions. Sprinkle with  a little paprika. Pour the white wine into the pot so that it comes to a little less than halfway up he chicken. Place pot into oven and let cook covered for about an hour. Remove coven and then cook for another 30-40 minutes, checking periodically, making sure not to burn the bottom of the chicken.

If needed add a little more white wine.

Serve hot with lots of fresh bread to spread the warm garlic.

Friday Flowers

Nothing says Spring is here – like a vase full of TULIPS. Simple and all you need to make a statement on your table or in any room.