instead of meal-prep, make dinners that cook themselves

All the flavors of your favorite chicken noodle soup, with a slight tang from the lemon 🍋 Surprisingly, a dinner that cooks itself just fine after a little upfront tossing and saucing!

When thinking about making these types of dinners that cook themselves, it’s all about layering:

1. The Base that keeps food simmering, not burning

2. The Flavor elements that can infuse everything

3. The Protein that gets better with simmering, steaming or baking

This Greek roasted lemon chicken + potatoes has all three!

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on)

• 5 garlic cloves

• 1.5 tbsp garlic powder

• 1.5 tbsp onion powder

• 1 lemon thinly sliced

• 4 yukon potatoes or 10 baby potatoes, quartered

• For the sauce:

  • 1/2 cup lemon juice

  • 1/2 cup olive oil

  • 2 sprigs of rosemary

  • 1 bundle of thyme

  • 1 tbsp dried oregano

  • 1 tbsp salt + freshly cracked black pepper

  • 4 garlic cloves, grated

Instructions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 425F

• Prep the chicken by washing, patting dry, then salting and peppering all over

• Mix together the garlic powder + onion powder, then lightly dust this over the chicken as well

• Separately mix together all the ingredients to make the sauce

• In a oven proof baking tray, add in the potatoes that have been quartered into wedges at the bottom, along with the 5 garlic cloves

• Toss those in ~2 tbsp sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper

• Place thinly sliced lemons on top

• Layer chicken over everything then drizzle the rest of the sauce on top

• Place in the oven for 1 hour 15 mins or until chicken skin gets golden brown

• Remove chicken from the tray, then let the potatoes continue cooking in the oven to get some color and to help reduce the sauce

• Depending on how much liquid there is, could take 10 - 30 mins

• If there’s so much liquid that the potatoes are completely covered, spoon some out into a separate pan until the potatoes start to emerge

• In that separate pan, reduce the sauce on medium low until a thicker consistency

• Once potatoes are also getting some color, add chicken back in, set oven to broil, then place the chicken and potatoes underneath to get some color

• Serve with a tzatziki sauce

My Qi Codes:

Spent half of last week finally exploring the coastline of southern California after moving to LA three years ago! Why did it take me so long? Hm well there was something like trying to explore a new city, acclimate to a new job…it’s always better late than never. Here were some of the highlights:

Hiking:

One of our first requirements for this trip up to Santa Barbara was to bring the dogs and give them the fun they deserve. Of course that means taking them to the beach so they can run to their heart’s content! Found a hike called ‘Elwood Forest Park Loop’ (AllTrails link here) that first took us through a dense forest of eucalyptus trees, into an open field of beautiful reeds, before depositing us to the cliffside of an empty open beach. Even on an overcast day, it was stunning!

Dining in Santa Barbara:

The only dinner we really booked was at Yoichi’s Restaurant, a Michelin recommended japanese restaurant, run in a little house by a husband-wife team. The chef has an extensive background, which includes cooking at Nobu Tokyo, and it definitely showed in the food. The seven-course menu starts with top seasonal ingredients and some of the best fish. Some of our highlights, pictured below, included the crab at the start, the wagyu beef with somen noodles, chawanmushi (steamed egg), and simmered fish with seasonal vegetables!

Jane Restaurant was another stand out! I just happened to walk past it on the way to our Airbnb and just had to get a seat on the little balcony overlooking the street. Tell me that isn’t the cutest spot.

The food there is a mixture of American bistro fare with European influences but everything was made with such care and attention to detail! Truly felt like we were transported to another country, between the balcony seats, food, and gentle guitar that a busker was playing nearby. We ordered the french onion soup + caesar salad to start, then finished with steak for him and chicken piccata for me.

But of course, we can’t forget the coffee!!! Dune Roasters was our favorite but Caje Coffee also did not disappoint. But if you’re really craving breakfast, specifically bagels, run don’t walk to Mother Dough Bagels. Coming from NYC, we have a high bar for our bagels and this knocked it out of the park! Crunch exterior, fluffy interior, get the salmon with yuzu bagel sandwich — you’re welcome.

Hope you enjoyed this recap! Trying something different this time, do let me know how you like this format, these updates with recipes, or if you’d just prefer the recipes. Till next time~