roasted chicken

i tried putting some intense herb and garlic paste under the skin of some chicken breasts with ribs and it turned out great, especially when used in its next life as leftovers. some ideas of note: alfredo pasta with spinach or tomatoes (or both) with the leftover chicken stirred in a few minutes before serving just to heat through, chicken pizza, horizontally-sliced chicken in a sandwich with mayo and lettuce and tomato on a toasted bun. mmmmm.

so these were substantial medium chicken breasts but they looked huge with the chicken ribs still attached. this chicken idea would be aMAZing with chicken thighs (and a great way to make "the poor time of the month" a little more interesting) , and would be way better if you made the "paste" of whatever herbs you have or even a pre-made pesto. i used parsley, 1/2 part rosemary, a really tiny bit of mint (it's overtaking the garden so i throw it in whatever i can) and about 4 cloves of garlic. it needs some kind of fat (and salt and pepper) to make it paste-y and i happened to use butter because i had left it out all day.

i cooked on med-hi for six minutes each side on the stovetop and then transferred it to a 375 degree oven for about eight minutes. if you're unsure of your size compared to mine (what, you can't make a calculated decision based on my very descriptive "substantial medium"?? loser.) i'd cut the stovetop time down by a minute or two per side and check on it from the oven. don't worry about the differences between breasts and thighs here, as thighs are usually a little smaller than breasts (in my experience) and finishing chicken in the oven allows for more checking-and-adding-extra-cooking-times without affecting the crispiness or moisture.

also, i added the leek slices, carrots, and cabbage to the pan after the first flip and put in a little more oil, salt, and pepper. in retrospect, i would have probably added the veggies in about 2 minutes after the chicken was first put in (skin side down) to soften them a little further, though i find that leeks are a lot tougher than onions this time of year, so disregard this idea if you're substituting the one for the other.