All in One Ducksauce Dinner
As mentioned before, Chicken-On-The-Bone (COTB) is not so appreciated 'round these parts (Shout out to Prince Charming) and attempts at replacing it with boneless chicken breasts have not been successful either. For my dear Prince Charming, it's cutlets or bust, so, despite the fact that I find them to be more tasteless and dry than their infinitely more admirable relative, COTB, I find myself making cutlets, rather often.
It is my general philosophy that any recipe that one has for COTB could probably be adapted for regular cutlets as well. Enter my new neighbors. They moved into our apartment building a few weeks back and due to an oven snafu found themselves oven-less for the first few days. They discovered this the first time my neighbor attempted to make supper in their brand new stove (which the management probably forgot to look up or something.) Once they realized supper (COTB) wasn't cooking they used my other neighbor's oven.
Fast forward a week or so, I'm standing around talking to my other neighbor (not the new neighbor) and she mentions that the chicken new neighbor sent over smelled truly heavenly. So like a good neighbor, I asked for the recipe, and lo! it contained duck sauce, a condiment that I knew existed, but recently rediscovered. I had to try it- with cutlets of course!
The Attempt:
All-in-one Ducksauce Dinner
3 chicken cutlets (about 1/4-1/2 lb)
Flour
5 small potatoes
1 onion
1 1/4 cups of duck sauce
3/4 cup of water
about 1/4+ tsp garlic powder
about 1/4+ tsp onion powder
dash or two of chili powder
a few turns of a pepper grinder
Chop potatoes into small pieces, chop up onion. Place on bottom of pan or a pyrex oven to table dish. Dredge cutlets in flour and place on top of potatoes and onions. Mix all the rest of the ingredients (duck sauce, water, & spices) and pour on top of everything else in the pan.
Cover and bake on 350 Fahrenheit for 1 1/2-3/4 hours until potatoes are very tender, basting periodically throughout cooking.
Makes: 2 servings
The Verdict:
Oh. My. Goodness! This might just be the first time I really, truly, and absolutely enjoyed eating a cutlet. The potatoes melted in your mouth. The chicken was bursting with flavor, and was buttery and succulent. The entire dish was awash with subtle spiciness. It was heaven.
It just took a long time to cook. A VERY long time to cook. By the time it was done, Prince Charming and I were so hungry that all our best laid plans to leave some over, or take pictures of it first were dashed. We ate it all up, and enjoyed every bite. But I'm not too concerned about the lack of pictures. Armed with the knowledge that this dish takes a while, I can plan in advance and make it WAAY before we plan to eat and take pictures then. Because this dish is making its way into the regular dinner rotation, and not a lot of dishes get that compliment.
