Please welcome the first guest blogger at Po’ Boy Livin’ Rich — Jennifer Jeansonne. Jennifer’s a great Southern girl (despite the fact that she went to Ole Miss) who knows her way around the kitchen. If you want to submit a recipe to the blog, email me at poboylivinrich@gmail.com.

I’m thrilled to be the first guest blogger on Po’ Boy Livin’ Rich! There’s no way my cooking is anywhere near as fancy as Clark’s, but I’m happy to be able to share a new recipe/cooking technique I tried last night.

Clark is a phenomenal person – he puts up with me on the tennis court, listens to me complain about boys, and knows exactly when to expose me to a specific baby and puppy to quickly get me out of a bad mood, and on top of being a great friend, he ‘s a fantastic cook. I always enjoy the opportunity to visiting his home because I know I’ll leave as a full and happy person.

Prepping Lemon and Garlic Baked Chicken

Last night I baked a chicken. This in itself is really not that impressive, but I am rather pleased with the way that things turned out. I cook, well, prepare food, for dinner on a regular basis, but this chicken baking experience took things to a whole new level. Usually, my cooking consists of grilling fish or chicken and making an easy veggie to go along, but I felt like I was actually cooking a real meal last night.

Usually when I bake a chicken, it doesn’t take much more prep work than plopping the chicken down in a pan and rubbing some seasonings on the outside and it usually turns out just fine. Yesterday’s chicken was especially yummy because of the extra steps I took to prepare the chicken for baking. Two minor changes in my preparation really ensured that the chicken was juicy, flavorful and absolutely delicious!

As you can see from the pictures, this is probably the flattest baked chicken that you have ever seen. In order to get the chicken to look like this, I had to cut out the backbone, clean out the insides, and press the chicken flat until I heard a crack – my favorite part. My handy pair of kitchen shears made this task very, very easy and almost fun!

The second thing that I did differently with this bird involved lifting up the skin and placing the lemon, garlic, and butter mixture underneath the skin instead of just putting it on the top. Adding this step and letting it sit for two hours made a HUGE difference in the flavor of the chicken.

Rosemary Potatoes

The rosemary potatoes and roasted broccoli fall into the” prepare, not really cook” category of food. Both sides were very simple and were prepared in similar ways. I washed and cut up the red potatoes and veggies and put them in a pan with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. The only thing that set the potatoes apart from the broccoli was the addition of some fresh rosemary from my herb garden.

Most of the time, I tend to cook like my mother, without any real measurements, and these potatoes and broccoli were no exception. I think it took me less than five minutes to prepare both of these sides for the oven.

The best thing about this meal was that all three components were cooking in the oven at the same time!

Recipes:

• For the Roasted Broccoli:
• 1 head of brocolli (cut up)
• Approximately 2 TBSP olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

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Lemon and Garlic Baked Chicken

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Wash and cut stems off of broccoli.
3. Put enough olive oil to lightly cover the broccoli and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cook for about 20 minutes.

• For the Rosemary Potatoes:
• 1-2 lbs of red potatoes
• Approximately 2 TBSP olive oil
• One long sprig of rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste

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1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Wash potatoes and cut into fourths.
3. Cut potatoes with enough olive oil to cover then add salt and pepper.
4. Remove rosemary from stems and put into pan, tossing potatoes in seasoning until they’re covered.
5. Place in the oven at the same time as the chicken and cook for approximately 45 minutes.

• For the Lemon and Garlic Baked Chicken:
• 1 whole chicken (4 to 4 1/2 lbs.)
• 3 TBSP butter
• 1 lemon, zested
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

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1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Wash potatoes and cut into fourths.
3. Combine garlic with lemon zest and salt and pepper in a small bowl.


Lemon and Garlic Baked Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli

4. In a small saucepan, melt butter. When melted, stir 2 TBSP butter into the garlic-lemon mixture; set aside remaining melted butter.
5. Place the chicken, breast side down, on a cutting board, with the large cavity facing you. Using kitchen shears, start at the open cavity and cut down each side of the backbone; discard the backbone.
6. Open the chicken (like a book), then flip over. Press down firmly on the skin side until you hear the bone crack.
7. Gently slide your fingers between the skin and flesh of the chicken breast and legs. Using your fingers, stuff the garlic-butter mixture under the skin, spreading it evenly.
8. Rub the reserved melted butter all over the chicken and season generously with salt and pepper.
9. Place the chicken skin side up in a roasting pan then place two or three lemon slices on top.
10. Roast until the skin is golden-brown and crisp (about 45 minutes).
11. Allow chicken to rest 15 minutes before serving.

Overall, I am very impressed with the way that my chicken, potatoes, and broccoli turned out. I now need to get creative with the leftovers. Next up: chicken, mushroom, and pesto pizza on a whole wheat crust!