Chicken and Sausage and Sage

It's been a moderately lazy weekend which has been lovely. Friday we met with somebody about the Judi's trust for the boys and then refinanced our house, knocking our monthly payment down about $100 and saving ourselves about $36,000 over the life of the loan.  Got home totally unprepared for our dinner guests but luckily they are understanding and kind.  Given the iffy, rainy weather we cooked and ate inside.  I made a dish that I had made the week before and been happy with.  This time I gave it more time to marinate and it was even better...and the leftovers better yet.  It's a Nigella Lawson from the Food Network that I found just because I had chicken to cook and wanted to use some of those nice fresh Italian sausages we had gotten at Volpi's in St. Louis.

 

One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage
Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson
(Copyright2004, Feast, Hyperion, All Rights Reserved)
Show: NigellaFeasts Episode: WeekendWonders

• 1 large onion or 2 small onions
• 1/2 cup olive oil (not extra-virgin)
• 2 teaspoons English mustard
• 1 tablespoon dried sage
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lemon
• 1 (4-pound) chicken, jointed into 10 pieces
• 12 sausages
• 2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, chopped

Directions

Peel and cut the onion into eighths, and put into a freezer bagwith the oil, mustard, dried sage, a good grinding of pepper, andWorcestershire sauce. Cut lemon in half, squeeze juice into bag, andthen cut the halves into eighths and add them. Squidge everything aroundto mix (the mustard needs help to combine) and then add the chickenpieces. Leave to marinade in the refrigerator overnight, or for up to 2days.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Allow the chicken to come toroom temperature in its marinade.

Arrange the chicken pieces in a roasting tin skin side up with themarinade, including all the bits and pieces, and tuck the sausagesaround them. Sprinkle the fresh sage leaves over the chicken andsausages and then put the tin into the oven to cook for 1 hour and 15minutes. Turn the sausages over half way through to color them evenly.

Arrange the chicken and sausages on a large platter.

It's obviously one of those incredibly forgiving recipes....I didn't have dried sage but used a bit more fresh....you could use other herbs as well.  I probably used a bit more lemon then called for because I love lemon....the dry mustard is a must----I think wet mustard would get lost with everything else.  Also, I only cooked mine an hour because well....that's when it was done.  Not exactly a summer recipe unless you're in the a/c on a rainy day as we were but it's definitely something we'll do again.

We just had a baguette with it and a lovely green salad that Mary brought----nice greens, little radish slices and a great salad dressing----equal parts orange juice concentrate, rice wine vinegar and vegetable oil.  It was great----light and tangy and sweet.  I really liked it----it would be great over vegetables too.

Oh, and I gotta say....I know I have some friends that are very good pie bakers----Ann, Boo....but I think the gauntlet has been thrown down because Mary brought the BEST cherry pie EVER.  EVER.