Mustard Chicken for Him and Her

His and Her Mustard Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus

I whipped up this dinner last night from things I found in the fridge.  Last week was a total bust due to a nasty cold and allergy season sort of hitting me all at once (yay Spring) and its still FREEZING here.  I'd like to know how tree pollen can be so high when its still 22 feels like 16 on my morning dog walks.  It just doesn't seem fair.  In happier news, the hubby and I finally made it out to dinner to belatedly celebrate our first anniversary :)  I dressed myself up in one of the new LBD's I purchased for the Honor Ball we're attending this Friday and tried out my new vintage earrings and black pumps while I was at it.   It was more than a tad too cold for bare legs but I still had fun and, more importantly, didn't damage my new heels walking on all the cobblestones downtown.  No pictures from Saturday's outing but I'm going to try my hardest to get a few on Friday.  While we were out to dinner I noticed that one of the sides was a loaded baked potato, which is a huge favorite of mine.  My mustard chicken concoction was the perfect excuse for me to make my own loaded baked potato and since J isn't a huge fan I decided to make His and Hers potato sides.   

Ingredients: 

2 chicken legs (whole foods are the best)

Spoonful of coarse mustard

Spoonful of honey

1 medium/large potato

3-4 small potatoes

Cheese, I used Mozzarella 

Spinach

Thyme

Asparagus

Lemon slices

Take a decent sized spoonful of coarse mustard and add a good dollop of honey, mixing to make it more of a paste.   

Spread some of the mustard under the skin of each leg. 

Spread the rest of the mustard onto the skin.   J told me later that his was a tad too mustard-y so next time I might just spread a bit of honey under the skin and save the mustard for the top.  Either way, don't skimp on the honey. 

Transfer the legs to an oven safe, tinfoil lined pan and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

His and Her potatoes. 

Wash both potatoes and cut His into quarters. 

I decided to toss His potatoes with a little olive oil, oregano and pepper. 

With a dash of cayenne pepper to finish them off. 

Arrange His potatoes around your chicken. 

For Hers, to insure that its done at the same time as the chicken and His potatoes, microwave for 3 minutes, then sprinkle with olive oil and kosher salt.  Once the oven is preheated, put both the chicken dish and Her potato in the oven.  Cook for about 30 minutes, or until Her potato is soft to the touch.

While all that is cooking combine the cheese and thyme for Her potato.  I really like loaded potatoes with bacon, but we didn't have any.  If you do, I'd highly recommend making some now and crumbling it to add.  

Grab a handful of spinach and steam it to add to Her potato as well. 

Originally, I'd planned on making enough spinach for His plate, but then I found this small amount of asparagus in the fridge.  I'd eaten the other small handful on Friday and J had complained that he didn't get any.  So I decided to make this last bit for him instead.  Toss the asparagus in a little olive oil and salt and cover it with a lemon slice or two.  Then set it aside to add to the oven closer to the end of the baking time. 

With the pre-microwave cooking, Her potato should be nice and soft after 30-35 minutes.  You can also fully cook the potato in the microwave but it doesn't get the crunchy skin that cooking it in the oven produces. 

Cut a small top off of Her potato and scoop out the insides, adding them to your cheese mixture.

Mix and mash Her potato with the cheese. 

Add the cooked spinach and a small amount of milk, as well as any salt and pepper to taste.

Put the stuffing back in the shell. 

Top it off and put it back in the oven, along with the asparagus to cook for another 10-15 minutes.  The asparagus should be cooked through and the edges of Her potato should be browning.   At this point, I like to flip the Chicken legs, to insure the bottoms get cooked through.   Once Her potato and the asparagus are cooked, remove from the oven and turn on the broiler.  Flip the chicken legs back over and crisp up the skin to your liking. 

Total cooking time is under an hour, more like 45-50 minutes.  

Divide everything into His and Her plates (I stole 2 asparagus) and Feast!