Potatoes - they ARE good for you!

Chicken Provençal
Food and Wine Magazine’s Quick From Scratch Chicken Cookbook Copyright 1997, 2001, 2004

1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 chicken (about 3 to 3 ½ pounds), cut into eight pieces I used thighs and drumsticks
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup red wine
1 ½ cups canned crushed tomatoes with their juice
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1/3 cup black olives such as Niçoise or Kalamata, halved and pitted I used Kalamata
1 teaspoon anchovy paste

1. In a large, deep frying pan, heat the oil over moderately high heat. Season the chicken with ¼ teaspoon each of the salt and pepper and put it into the pan. Cook the chicken until browned, turning, about 8 minutes in all. Remove the chicken from the pan. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pan.
2. Reduce the heat to moderately low. Add the onion and the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the wine to the pan and simmer until reduced to about ¼ cup, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, olives, anchovy paste, and the remaining salt and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add the chicken thighs and drumsticks and any accumulated juices. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the breasts and cook until the chicken is just done, about 10 minutes more. Add the remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper.

I cooked this a bit longer since I like my bone-in chicken thoroughly cooked.


Grilled Potatoes with Olive Oil and Thyme
The Ultimate Diabetes Cookbook Copyright 2003

1 large baking potato (12 ounces)
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste

1. Preheat grill, oven or broiler.
2. Peel or thoroughly scrub the potato; cut into ¼-inch thick slices. In a saucepan, cook potato in boiling water for 5 minutes over medium-high heat; drain thoroughly.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, paprika, thyme, garlic, and black pepper. Brush potatoes on both sides with the oil mixture.
4. Cook on grill about 5 to 6 minutes per side until tender when pierced with a fork. Season with salt, if desired. I used my GF Grill, which is what the cookbook author said that she always uses.

Serves 4; Diabetic exchange 1 bread; ¾ fat
(ha ha ha! I made 3 small potatoes for two people - I guess the small portions is what makes this a diabetic recipe.)

I was surprised to see Russet potatoes on the Top 20 Antioxidant Rich Food List since they seem to get such a bad rap these days, when carbs are the enemy to so many people, but there they were. So this is my contribution to Sweetnicks ARF/5-a-Day Tuesdays this week. The potatoes were tasty and smelled divine while cooking.

But this chicken, oh this chicken, was the star of the show. Or I should say, the sauce. I've said it before, I'm a sucker for anything with anchovy paste and this was no exception. This recipe was so flavorful. I love, no I LOVE, these Food and Wine Magazine Quick From Scratch Cookbooks.

I picked up this diabetic cookbook in the library and I really can't judge it on one potato recipe but the other recipes do look promising. I hope to try something else from this book before returning it to the library.

I was jonesing for new cookbooks this past weekend but I opted for a trip to the library. They have a great selection but it's just not the same as buying cookbooks for some reason.