Last Night's Dinner at Dad's

       I am home in Huntsville for the weekend, which always means LOTS of cooking. When I come home, I take full advantage of my time and SPACE to cook for my family and friends. Minuscule is a kind way to describe the kitchen in my apartment at school, so my cooking is limited there. I am staying with my father this weekend and decided to cook dinner for us last night. I wanted to try something new, so I flipped through the August 2010 issue of Bon Appetit magazine and honestly had a hard time picking out of the multitude of delicious looking recipes, but decided on the bruschetta with rosemary, roasted plum tomatoes, ricotta, and prosciutto to start, followed by the grilled mustard chicken with fresh corn polenta. Both of these recipes can be found on the magazine’s website. I tweaked both recipes a bit due to my forgetfulness at the grocery store.

       This bruschetta is now one of my FAVORITE bruschetta recipes I’ve come across. Since they were out of plum tomatoes at the grocery, I used cherry tomatoes instead and I think I actually prefer them since they are smaller and more appropriately bite-sized for this particular dish. Instead of using their marinade for the tomatoes, I used my own that I frequently use. After placing the halved tomatoes on a sheet pan covered in foil, I sprinkled them with some good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt (it is essential to use a good salt- kosher at least, but a good fleur de sel makes such a difference), fresh cracked pepper, rosemary and oregano. Then I tossed it with my hands and let it sit for a few minutes to absorb the flavors. Then into the oven they went!

       This recipe says to roast them at 425 for about 35 minutes, but keep in mind that they are using larger plum tomatoes. It doesn’t take quite as long with the cherry tomatoes, so just keep an eye on them. 

       Instead of arugula, I used a yummy frisee blend and tossed it in a bit of the marinade I had prepared for the chicken (before it touched the raw meat of course) just because I already had it made and I liked how it would tie the mustard flavor into both of my dishes. 

       The final product was UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS! I do have one tip though: I did not follow the recipe’s instruction to fold the prosciutto slices and placing them side by side on the baguette. I didn’t really see the point until I bit into my finished product and the entire topping slid right off the baguette. I might even recommend roughly chopping your prosciutto into small pieces just to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you. 

       For the chicken, I used two bone-in chicken breasts instead of thicken thighs, simply because I like it more. I also did without pinning the skin down after placing the marinade beneath it, but in the end, I regretted it. I think the marinade would have stayed more in place on the grill, but oh well, live and learn! I also chose to combine a coarse dijon mustard with a smooth one. I didn’t really do this for any particular reason other than changing things up a bit, but I really liked how it turned out. 

       I had some of my roasted tomatoes left over from the bruschetta, so I placed them on top of my polenta, which added an extra boost to the overall dish. It ended up being a well rounded, comforting supper that I would recommend to anyone! Very easy and not too time consuming! I’d love to hear your take on it and any twists you may have made to the recipe! 

Enjoy!

Links to the Recipes: 

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/08/bruschetta_with_rosemary_roasted_plum_tomatoes_ricotta_and_prosciutto

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/08/grilled_mustard_chicken_with_fresh_corn_polenta