a dinner to be proud of.

Yesterday I discovered this amazing blog that's jam packed full of amazing recipes.  At about the same time, J texted me with some good news and I decided to go all out for dinner.  

Shallot stuffed, bacon wrapped chicken legs, Mashed potatoes with Kale and Onion Confit. (sorry its so dark!)

Shallot Stuffed, Bacon Wrapped Chicken Legs

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  

Roughly chop one or two shallots, and saute in a skillet on medium-low heat, with either butter or oil.   Add salt and pepper to taste. 

My husband is a huge fan of cast-iron cooking and I'm quickly being converted.  It makes saute so much easier! 

Once the shallots are soft and translucent they are ready to be stuffed.  Place a small amount under the skin of each chicken leg.   You don't have to be exact, just make sure each leg receives some shallots.  

Now that the legs are stuffed, its time to wrap them in bacon!  I used 2 pieces per leg and started at the thigh, wrapping around, making sure the shallots stayed in place under the skin. 

Next, season each leg.  I used garlic salt, rosemary, salt and pepper.  I also cut a tablespoon of butter into 6 small pieces and tucked them under the bacon.  You could also melt the butter, add the spices and then brush the mixture onto each leg.  

 

Toss the legs into the oven, uncovered.  Cook for about an hour, or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.  I wanted my bacon to be nice and crispy so once the chicken was cooked, I turned on the broiler and baked the chicken for an additional 5 minutes.  Then, I turned the legs over and cooked for another 10 minutes to insure the bottom of the bacon was as crispy as the top.  If you think that your legs are looking a little dry feel free to add a little water to the pan to help keep them moist.  I doused each leg in some of the water I used to boil the potatoes right before I turned on the broiler. 

Once the chicken legs went into the oven,  I started on the mashed potatoes and kale.  Since its only the 2 of us I only cut up 2 potatoes and a small bunch of kale.

 Boil the potatoes and kale, until soft, about 15 minutes.  The kale turns a wonderful bright green.  I leave the skin on my potatoes for added flavor/ I'm usually too lazy to peel them and the hubby doesn't seem to mind :).  You can peel them beforehand if you prefer. 

 

Once the potatoes are soft, drain them but keep the water to use later.

Mash the mixture and season with salt and pepper.  

To help keep the potatoes moist, add some of the boiled water back into the mash.  You could also add milk or butter. 

The potatoes are good to eat now but I've discovered that if you bake them for another 10-15 minutes in the oven, they turn out even better!  I timed it so that the potatoes were done at the same time as the chicken.  Ta-da!

The onion confit recipe was another amazing find from Kayotic Kitchen and the recipe can be found here.  I've added a few of my own pictures to show just how easy this recipe is!

 

Viola!  A dinner to be proud of!