Friends, we absolutely love hearing your special memories, moments, and the stories behind the dishes you hold dear and how you are commemorating them in your Keepsake Kitchen Diaries.
Today I’m so excited to introduce you to Courtney, who is sharing one of her beloved family recipes for Chicken Facile and how she included it in her whimsical lemon diary. Her blog is A Life From Scratch and I highly recommend checking it out for more delicious recipes. Her blog slogan “a life you adore around a table you love” just speaks right to my heart!
From Courtney:
I was so incredibly excited when I first saw the Kitchen Diary last year. I knew it was right up my alley and I immediately added it to my Christmas list along with a few other items. But I made sure to note that the Kitchen Diary was a MUST. Top gift, for sure. I was so happy to receive it and to have a couple lazier days post Christmas to get a few entries complete. I’ll admit it, I was so nervous to begin! The book was so perfect and I am not exactly the most artistic of people. Yet then I remembered that the content is what matters most. The special recipes and the memories made around them. So I dug in, with my five year old at my side asking to help, of course.
One of our most treasured family recipes is called Chicken Facile which is just a fancy French way of saying Chicken Easy. This recipe is amazing for entertaining! It’s a one dish, throw everything in together, and toss around with your hands. Very rustic, very low key, but still holds a sense of elegance to it all. You can serve it straight from the oven to the dinner table, keeping everything together in the large roasting tray. A butter chardonnay goes great with this one, as does a lot of hungry stomachs. And the bread and garlic combination in this recipe is literally pure magic, trust me on this one.
A great memory this recipe holds is my oldest son Logan helping me make it when he was just six years old as my hands were full of my youngest son, Beckett. He had so much fun just throwing everything together in the tray, and then shaking it around with the olive oil and red pepper flakes. Tearing up the fresh basil on top was also a highlight. He had no issues making this recipe on his own with a little guidance from me, and I got a work out getting the tray in and out of the oven while holding the (big) baby that never ever let me put him down.
We’ve had this meal many times since then, and yet I always remember my little helper and my baby in my arms. As the boys grow (they are now five and eleven) and still enjoy this meal and other recipes like it, I’m constantly reminded of how precious those memories made in the kitchen together are. I know it’s what will be making me smile well into my years ahead and I love that I have the Keepsake Kitchen Diary to capture them all.
Without further ado, our family’s favorite…
CHICKEN FACILE
Recipe from A Life From Scratch
INGREDIENTS:
1 ciabatta loaf
2 big handfuls of cherry tomatoes
1 big handful of the best olives you can afford
1 big garlic bulb
fresh basil
one whole cut up fryer chicken
good olive oil
salt & pepper
red chili flakes
8 slices of pancetta
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large roasting pan, rip up a ciabatta loaf and throw it in. Along with it goes two big handfuls of cherry tomatoes, one big handful of the best olives you can afford and one big garlic bulb broken into cloves, skin still on.
Tear up some fresh basil and sprinkle throughout.
Pat one whole cut up fryer chicken pieces as dry as possible and lay them on top of the roasted pan.
Over everything, pour a generous amount of good olive oil, salt & pepper, and a sprinkle of red chili flakes. Toss with your hands and then reposition chicken on top.
Roast for 30 minutes. Remove and reposition chicken and roast another 30. Take out and place 8 slices of pancetta on top of the chicken skin and roast 15 minutes more.
At this point your chicken will be cooked through. I switched the broiler on at the end to crisp up the pancetta and chicken skin a bit. Feel free to do this, or even brown this chicken skin before putting in the oven. If you go this route, I’d cut back the cooking time a bit.
Before serving, add a few fresh basil leaves for color.
Enjoy! Thank you so much for sharing, Courtney!
Find the Keepsake Kitchen Diary here and begin your family cookbook!
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