{Tap tap}...Is this thing on?

It’s been so long since I’ve showed my face here that I’ve almost forgotten how this works. I guess that’s ok since I doubt anyone even checks for new posts anymore (except my friend Susannah, who reminds me she is still a loyal reader whenever I see her).  I’d try to explain away my year long (gulp) absence but there is not much to say—young child + full time job+ trying to maintain some semblance of personal /free time (ha!)= little time for cooking period, let alone anything worth writing about. That said, I did enjoy this old blog of mine back in its heyday so thought I’d dip a toe back in the water and see what happens. Posts may be scattered and may not always involve cooking really amazing things (hey, remember when I did this??) but, you know, baby steps.

So without further ado…..Susannah, this one’s for you!

Three day weekends are the best. And I actually spent this one doing some cooking. First up—Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp Bars. I’m not posting the recipe since I followed it pretty much to the letter.  Definitely worth the (minimal) effort—delicious and does not make me feel too guilty for indulging, which is great since I had to buy A TON of rhubarb from the one grocery store I could find that sold it—so we may be eating a lot of these bars over the next week or so.

Next, a Memorial Day bbq “feast.” We were lucky enough to enjoy delicious cookout fare (e.g., burgers, sausages, grilled veggies,etc.) at a friend’s house on Saturday but I still felt the need to cook up something barbeque-y to celebrate the start of summer. I did a little BBQ chicken in the oven using a combo of a Smitten Kitchen’s dryrub oven barbeque chicken and another blogger’s baked chicken recipe (which we are also big fans of here). It turned out well. Although it definitely did not have any kind of crispiness to the skin (if that is something that is important to you). I don’t really go for chicken skin in general (one reason I am not a big fan of fried chicken) so this was fine with me. Moist, flavorful and pretty smoky for not coming within spitting distance of a grill. I served it with corn on the cob and this potato salad.

  

Hope you too spent some quality time with good friends, family and food this weekend. See you back here again...(dare I say) soon??!?

 Gratuitous photo of child-- nothing to do with the rest of the post!

BBQ Chicken (Minus the Grill)

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Hellobee

Ingredients:

3 TBL brown sugar

2 TBL smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cumin

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white pepper

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (any bone-in/skin-on chicken will do)

BBQ sauce of your choosing

1. Make the dry rub by mixing together the first 6 ingredients. This is enough for two recipes if you are using 4 chicken thighs so I poured half into a small bowl and put the rest in an airtight container for another use.

2. Preheat the oven to 350. Place chicken in a baking dish. Rub the chicken—under the skin and on-top of the skin—with the spice mixture. Be generous!

3. Pour a little water in the bottom of the baking dish—up to ½ inch or so. This time, I just put enough in to make sure the bottom was wet. Cover with aluminum foil.

4. Bake for about 50 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Remove foil and pour a TBL or so of BBQ sauce onto each chicken thigh. Up the oven temperature to 400 degrees—put the chicken back in for 10 minutes or so until the BBQ sauce gets a little caramelized. Serve with additional BBQ on the side (if desired).