It's been awhile since I've made a new post. It's not that I haven't been cooking, I just haven't been cooking anything new or anything worthy of a post. We are actually expecting our 2nd baby and I have just survived the first trimester. This week my food aversions have gotten better and I have been more inspired to create new recipes again.
This was a fairly simple meal, since most of the cooking is done in the oven. The recipe will serve 3 people, or 2 adults, 1 toddler + left overs.
The balsamic vinegar that I used is infused with fig. This was a great find at the clearance aisle of the grocery store. It's a bit sweeter and tarter than balsamic vinegar by itself, so I would add equal parts of a tart juice like orange to regular balsamic vinegar to substitute.
Ingredients
4 Chicken thighs with skin and bone
3 T soy sauce
3 T fig infused balsamic vinegar
1/2 t Italian herbs mix
3 c kale, leaves removed from stems
1 medium sweet potato
2 small beets
1 cup of cooked quinoa (in chicken broth)
Maple Sesame Balsamic Vinaigrette (See below)
Procedure
1. At least 3 hours before meal time, marinate the chicken with the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and Italian herbs.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with a non-stick spray. Turn up the edges to contain any juices that may drip out of the chicken during cooking.
3. Scrub the beets and sweet potato. Cut the sweet potato diagonally into 3 smaller pieces (To increase surface area to ensure that it will be cooked in about 50 minutes to an hour.) Wrap the beets and sweet potatoes each with aluminum foil.
4. Preheat the oven to 340 degrees F. Place the chicken onto the foil lined pan and place the pan into the oven. Place the beets and sweet potato into the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes.
5. Brush or pour the remaining marinade onto the chicken after 30 minutes. Bake for another 10-14 minutes. Until chicken is done.
6. Lift the foil with the chicken onto a large plate and set aside. In its place, spread the kale onto the baking sheet and place it back into the oven for about 10-15 minutes. This helps soften the kale, which makes it taste better, and it also helps your body absorbs the nutrients more efficiently.
7. Allow the chicken to rest a bit while you cube the beets and sweet potato. You may want to peel them, it's up to you. Then slice up the chicken, or cube it.
8. Save about 2 T of the juice from the chicken for the dressing. Skim the fat off, or if you have some sort of fancy kitchen gadget, you can use it too. I typically blow across the top of the liquid to push the oils out of the way and use a spoon to scoop up the flavorful sauce underneath. It works pretty well if you don't need much.
9. To put it all together, on a large plate, place a mound of kale in the middle, use your fingers to create a tennis ball sized hole in the middle. Place a heaping scoop of the quinoa in the hole. Put some of the cubed beets and sweet potatoes on top of the quinoa and kale. Place a few pieces of chicken on the very top of the pile.
10. Drizzle the sauce over the salad, concentrating more on the kale. The juices from the chicken will drip down and flavor the quinoa and the kale will be nicely flavored by the salad. That's why I had you create the hole. If you just piled everything on top, the quinoa and chicken may absorb the sauce, leaving you with dry kale.
Maple Sesame Balsamic Vinagarette
1 T tahini or roasted sesame paste
1 T agave maple syrup
1/2 T fig infused balsamic vinegar
1 t garlic infused olive oil (you can use regular olive oil and 1/2 minced garlic, but raw garlic makes me nauseous right now)
1-2 T of the juices from the baked chicken (avoid the layer of oil)
pepper to taste