Yesterday I came upon an incredible deal on chicken legs…the package cost me $.50!!!! Combining a coupon with a good price of $1.09/lb chicken legs, the out of pocket price was only $.50. Score!!! Or should I say, TOUCHDOWN! But they only had 1 package of chicken legs and I have about 10 coupons. Raincheck, please!!!
Instead of putting the chicken legs in the freezer, I opted to cook them right away. I’m channeling my friend Chris who does not freeze anything…just buys enough meat for the day or a few days. Okay, what happens when the bird flu comes and the stores close down??? I know, she’ll come to my house! She knows I’ll let her in!
Back to the recipe, digging through my incredibly packed organized refrigerator, I spied some leftover tomato puree, check. Onions, check, check…oh wait, my daughter always complains about onions in her food. Should I put onions with their incredible flavor or not. NOT. I don’t want to hear it from her and I know I can get some deliciousness without the onion. And then some wine, check, check, check!
I got down to business constructing our yummy meal, wine bottle glass in hand. With a meal like this, the chicken needs to be browned, even though the skin will soften up with the addition of liquid…mantra, browning means flavor. On the chicken went some salt, pepper, Italian Seasoning…the normal suspects in my cooking. In the pan, heating to a nice simmer was some olive oil and then the chicken goes in. There is nothing, I mean nothing like the smell of chicken roasting or sautéing on the stove top. Am I right or am I right? Just agree with me!
When the chicken was sufficiently browned on all sides, in went the tomato puree (about 1 cup) a pinch of red pepper flakes and about 1 cup of wine. This is where it gets a little dicey. I know I should have used red wine but I only had an expensive fabulous bottle of wine from Ocean State Job Lot. Yes, I said Ocean State Job Lot for $3.99!!!! And it was a white wine. In went the garlic. I don’t like to sauté garlic because I end up burning it, so I put it in with the sauce. On went the cover and the smells in my house went up another notch of deliciousness. It simmered for about an hour. Add some al dente linguini and perfectly toasted garlic bread and dinner was done. Another success in my kitchen. Well, maybe not…I was going to add some zucchini to make it a little healthier but unfortunately my zucchini had seen better days and ended up in the compost pile. Not so much of a win on that front. But the meal was fantastic AND the leftovers were packed up for lunches. That’s what we had for dinner. What did you make for dinner?