Lucinda Scala Quinn's Baked Chicken with Honey-Whole Grain Mustard Glaze with Gourmet Hash Brown and Salad with Whole Grain Mustard Viniagrette

Actually, this recipe with originally created by Lucinda's son Calder who sometimes apprentices on her show, Mad Hungry.  If you haven't read before how great this show is, check it out!  It is amazing and currently airs on the Hallmark Channel.  If I remember it right, Calder and a group of his friends at college were dateless for Valentine's Day and they decided to pool their efforts and make a nice dinner.  He wanted to utilize what they had at their place along with some local favorites and their level of cooking skills.  Another thing that's cool about Lucinda is what she can whip up just from what she has on hand in her kitchen.  She always keeps certain items in stock at her house because sometimes she doesn't know if she'll be home in time from taping her show or working with Martha Stewart Omnimedia to make dinner.  And, she has taught her son's this skill of which the oldest is a professional chef in Los Angeles!  Here it goes:

Baked Chicken with Honey-Whole Grain Mustard Glaze

 Ingredients:

·       8 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs

·       1/2 cup olive oil (maybe more)

·       1 lemon (juiced)

·       salt and pepper to taste

·       some fresh herbs i.e. fresh rosemary (if you have them)

·       Glaze:

·       1 1/2 tbsp. whole-grain mustard

·       1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

·       1 or 2 tbsp. honey

·       1/3 cup olive oil

·       little salt and pepper

Directions:

    Marinate chicken in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and herbs, for at least 1 hour and up to a day in advance. Preheat oven to 375º. Rub big broil-safe baking pan with olive oil or butter, place thighs skin side down. Discard marinade.

    Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and turn skin side up. Bake for 10 more minutes. Spoon out pan juices and save for potatoes.

    To make the glaze, add mustard, honey, and oil in a bowl in that order, whisk, add salt and pepper, whisk some more. Apply glaze with brush or spoon and broil for 4-5 minutes watching carefully.

    Take out and let rest for a second.

Servings:  4

I used a rimmed jelly-roll pan for this dish since I don't have any baking pans that aren't non-stick or not stoneware of which neither are broiler friendly.  If you do use this type of pan, be mindful when you take the pan out of the oven.  There will be lots of juices and if you move to fast, they can slosh out onto you and that would not feel good!

Hash Browns

  

Ingredients:

·       2 tbsp. olive oil

·       2 tbsp. butter

·       3/4 quarter onion, minced

·       3 whole potatoes, boiled, peeled and shredded

·       salt and pepper

Directions:

     Boil potatoes for about 30-45 minutes.  You want them soft, but firm enough to grate.  Allow to cool enough to handle, then peel and grate.

    Heat a cast iron pan on medium-high, add oil and then butter. When the fat is heated add minced onion and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes.  Add shredded potato, salt and pepper.  Combine Gently.

    Reduce heat to medium and start pressing the mixture down and toward the center of the pan. Try to get it to congeal and keep pressing it down and cook for 10 to 12 minutes while occasionally lifting the mixture so it doesn't stick.  You can also pour a little olive oil around the outside perimeter to help prevent sticking.

    Take a round platter or cutting board and lay on top of pan and flip hash brown onto dish.  Slide hash brown back into the pan and cook until bottom firms up.

    Spoon reserved glazed chicken juices onto the top of the potato mixture and fry a few more minutes.  Cut into servings.

Servings:  4-6

I originally made this recipe in a non-stick pan.  While this made flipping the hash brown easier, it just didn't crisp it up enough.  If your cast-iron pan is seasoned properly, it should make the flipping easier.  Just have good oven-mitts on hand.  

Spooning the reserved juices from the baked chicken adds a great flavor to the hash brown, just don't go overboard on it.  Remember, the objective is to keep it crisp.  Too much juice and it will be too soggy.  

Salad with Whole-Grain Mustard Vinaigrette

  

Ingredients:

·       Boston lettuce (or green lettuce of your choice)

·       1/2 red onion, sliced thinly

·       cucumber, peeled and sliced

·       or whatever vegetables sound good

·       Dressing:

·       1 tbsp. each of whole-grain and Dijon mustard

·       little honey

·       juice of 1/2-1 lemon

·       2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

·       salt and pepper

·       maybe a fresh herb minced as well

Directions:

     Make sure lettuce is dry.  Mix veggies in a large bowl.

    In a jar or dressing shaker, combine all dressing ingredients.  Mix well.

    Evenly pour dressing over salad or an equal portion over each individual serving.

Servings:  4-6

I like to use Romaine for this salad because I usually have it ready in my garden and it's my favorite.  Red onion is great for this recipe, because it's sweeter than your yellow and white onions.  Just make sure you slice it nice and thin.  You want a nice blending of flavors.  I also prefer my cucumber peeled and then sliced.  When you peel cucumber, it just seems to release that fresh scent and flavor.  

I love how Lucinda makes her dressings.  If she uses up one of the ingredients making the dressing, she just pours everything into that jar to shake-blend it.  That way she's getting every last bit of that ingredient out of that jar.  My mom always does this with her coleslaw dressing.  And if Lucinda isn't at the bottom of the jar, she mixes it up in a mason jar you would use for canning.  

You can just have everyone pour the dressing on individually, but this recipe doesn't make a lot of dressing so I would recommend pouring it over the salad and tossing it.  A tossed salad just always seems better to me and that way you're encouraging your family to try different things and learn that certain salad dressings go better with certain dishes.  If you want to slightly intensify the flavor of the salad, sprinkle some sea salt on it before tossing.  Not too much as salt can quickly wilt your greens as it has qualities that pull moisture.  

Just one more note.  Another thing I love about Lucinda's show is that when you look up her recipes, they include a video of her making the recipes.  This can be very helpful, especially with the Hash Brown recipe.  Enjoy!