More cooking

I also made a recipe from last weeks New York Times. It was delicious. The whole point of the article is to make something inexpensive, but still fancy enough for a dinner party. I made some changes to it. It is the kind of recipe that can easily be played around with. The only thing I wouldn't do is subsititute chicken breasts.

My picture doesn't do this dish justice. Sorry.



Pasta With Roast Chicken, Eggplant, Raisins and Almonds

Adapted from “New York Times”


3 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, patted dry

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 eggplant diced

1 1/2 pounds dried pasta, preferably bucatini or linguine

1 teaspoons crumbled fresh rosemary

1/2 cup dried raisins

2/3 cup almonds, toasted

1 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped mint

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

4 tbs. butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange thighs in a large roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour 2 tbs. oil over all of the chicken. Bake until just cooked through and skin is crisp about 35 minutes.

2. Dice eggplant. Put in colander and salt generously. Leave for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. Put in same roasting pan just drain off most of the fat. Add 2 tbs. oil or use chicken fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until soft about 35 minutes depending on how big your pieces are.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When chicken is done, let cool slightly, then use hands to pull meat and skin from bones, making bite-size pieces. Reserve meat and discard bones.

4. Meanwhile, add pasta to boiling water and cook just until tender but not mushy.

5. Melt butter in a small sauce pan on low. Add breadcrumbs. Stir until toasted about 2 minutes.

6. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth to the pasta pot on the stovetop and turn heat to low. Add chicken, eggplant, rosemary, raisins, mint and almonds to roasting pan and toss, adding more salt and black pepper to taste, and more chicken broth if mixture seems dry. Top with breadcrumbs reserving some for individual bowls.