Dinner tonight - or last night.

Here's the original article by Amanda Gold at the SF Chronicle -
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/26/FDIL1JUHCB.DTL

The recipe is the second one in the article. I'll copy and edit it to remove the added zucchini dish, for clarity's sake. Murmurings by me in italics.

So far, this has been fool proof, easy and delicious:

Roasted Cherry-Mustard Chicken Legs

Bonne Maman makes a nice cherry preserve that I used in this recipe, but use any brand you like. If you have any fresh cherries and some time to pit them, they'd make a great garnish on top. [-----]
The blackberry fruit concoction I bought today worked out fine. I had considered a pineapple jam. Maybe next time.

4 whole chicken legs (chicken leg-thigh quarters)
2 tablespoons olive oil - that's only one re the recipe to use for the chicken, but I used two.
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup cherry preserves
2 teaspoons stoneground or Dijon mustard (I've never made it with store dijon, been playing with making my own stoneground, it is at the least less expensive)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon melted butter, slightly cooled

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 450°.

Rub the chicken legs all over with one tablespoon of the olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Place on a lightly oiled sheet pan, and place in the oven on the top rack. (I tend to use one rack, in the middle.) It will cook for a total of about 40-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze by whisking together the preserves, mustard, soy sauce and butter, and set aside. If it starts to seize up from the butter before you're ready to use it, microwave it for 10 seconds, then stir.

In the last 10 minutes of chicken cooking time, brush the glaze a few times over the chicken legs. Brush again five minutes later, and again just before removing from oven.

That's it.

I set the oven to 425 first and only put it up to 45o after I put the dish in, and at the sizzling end of the timeing, during the second coat of the sauce, shut the oven off. But.. I live at highish altitude, so don't know about elsewhere or your oven.

I use a glass baking dish, size depending on what looks like the chicken would fit. I like that, since I don't have to worry about much spattering or juices in a shallow pan.

Thanks, Osso. I like that recipe. I think it would be a great glaze for chicken wings, as well.

Olga, with the garlic (4 large cloves) and all the rest of the ingredients, you can't even taste the mayo.

Another month or so and I'll be down in the warm (hopefully) temps for some sun (hopefully), but still no fresh tomatoes.

ehBeth, I can't really tell the difference between homemade mayo and Hellmann's, for example, either, but I can tell the difference in the taste between mayo and Miricle Whip. To me, the Whip is lighter and sweeter.

I just checked the jars in my fridge, and calorie-wise and fat-wise, a tbsp of the Whip has 40 calories and 5% fat, whereas Hellmann's mayo has 100 calories and 15 percent fat.

Janice is having dinner with us at our house. Marco is making a baked chicken with sautéed spinach and a Spanish rice. Janice will love his cooking!

I made my first venison tenderloin today. I did it like a pot roast. I used onions and covered it in beef stock and a little greek seasonings. Then I put it in the oven on 250 for about 2 hours. Very tender and yummy - it did not taste gamey at all. I have a freezer full of it that I will be using up for quite some time. So I will probably be researching other recipes. I have only used ground venison prior to today - and that is about the same as hamburger meat - just much more lean - which translates to being tough - it is much chewier than regular ground chuck.

Anyway - I feel like I tried something new and succeeded. Which is always a good thing.

If you want to use ground venison, mix in a little ground chicken or turkey. It will lighten up the texture and flavour.

Venison is wonderful in a clay pot with lots of root veggies and some wine - then deglaze your clay pot - you'll get a gravy that is frighteningly delicious.

Thank you Beth. I should have come on here and asked you first. Well - I have plenty more to work with. I need to go buy a clay pot though.

Love the idea of adding the ground turkey or chicken. I just tried to chop it up a little after I cooked it in my watcha ma doodle...what is that thing called. I think it starts with a P.

Food Processor. Sheesh...I need to go to bed.
Thanks Sweet Beth.

I’m cooking tonight, I’m going to try to make a homemade pizza, pepperoni, and my homemade meatballs, stay tuned.

Stay tuned?

So, do you have cheese with that?

I might need some wine

I somewhat live on pizza in that I make one maybe every ten days, eat a slice right away, and freeze the rest, which maybe become breakfast or whatever several other days. What is on them always varies.

I didn't have pizza until I was around twenty, in the early days of rampant pizza places in the U.S. That place, Piece O'Pizza, or some name like that, was also where I tasted my first salad. I liked the pizza but maybe the salad as an idea better.

Long later we went to Italy. That first trip, we had two memorable pizzas.
First one - because we were staying at a fantastic place that we checked out from a small book, and since they were just opening for the season (March), just revving up, the woman at the desk, maybe the contessa herself, thought we were ok and gave us a huge discount. Best place I've ever stayed at - but, we didn't want to stick around for dinner since it would have killed the rest of the trip re dollars out. I cringe at that now, wish I'd been straightforward with them.

That was a Monday, and it turns out the ristoranti in that suburb of Florence were closed, thus our drive to the next place, the bowling alley. Bowling alley?The pizza was hilarious, very spare, the mushrooms moving in a swath if you tilted the pizza. Maybe you were supposed to eat it with a fork.. (my later italian teacher did).

Second memorable pizza was on Campo de Fiori in Rome at probably, from later reading, a dumb as doornails choice give a place across the piazza. Anyway, it was a thin round with almost nothing on it but wurtzel, from which the fat dissolved so it was like looking at a lacework, that was good and served with (german?) beer.

I got used to spare pizzas, thin tasty crusts. Favorite so far was bufula mozzarella w/ some blue cheese but not overwhelming, and walnuts, maybe with walnut oil drizzle.

Pizza is like a whole world out there.

I’m starting to make my pizza, making my own crust. Marco was being a smart ass, took the smoke detector down just in case.

Trader Joe's does have excellent fresh pizza dough, so you don't have to make everything from scratch, June Cleaver

We don’t have Trader Joe’s here yet, I heard they were planning on opening one soon though.

So what's in all those packages?

just read a sort of yawn but also useful article - I think - re dough, to my view.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/01/18/the_ultimate_homemade_margherita_pizza_recipe.html?fb_ref=sm_fb_plugin_activity

Cheese, the pizza dough, pepperoni, peppers and the sauce.

My pizza is ready to go in the oven. I put the meatballs under the cheese! I made a salad to go with it.

I'ma gonna have to buy you three a ticket (fat chance)... though I'll admit your dough doesn't look bulbous yet.

We may pop out and surprise you someday. I loaded this sucker up, extra everything, its done! You can’t tell by the photo but its very thick. Bon appetit!