We had my dad and brother over for dinner last Thursday. It was a really nice night. One thing I really enjoy is getting to spend time with my family. It can be hard, everyone is always so busy, but when it happens, it’s like happiness-pie (note: no actual dessert was served - I’m the only one who actually enjoys it).

I cooked up buttermilk roasted chicken, roasted potatoes and gravy (thanks so much to my dad for fixing my oven - I no longer have to deal with undercooked but burnt on one side baking disasters!). Dad made a really yummy greek salad. My brother made Jalapeno Poppers - those were an adventure to eat: some of the jalapenos were super spicy and some were perfectly mild, so you never knew what you’d be biting into. Either way though, they were delish.

Here’s the chicken coming out of the oven. I butterflied it before it was roasted.

And here’s it is all plated up. Sorry for the awkward shot. I was feeling a little silly with my picture-taking ;)

Recipes for the buttermilk chicken (which was AWESOME) and potatoes can be found here and here. As usual with my substitutions, I used tarragon and Italian oregano instead of rosemary in the chicken marinade. My tarragon is growing like crazy right now but my rosemary didn’t survive the winter.

Also, the gravy sauce was pretty tasty, so here it is:

• pan drippings from roasted chicken
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1/2 cup of cream
• 1 T tarragon, minced
• lemon juice, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Pour drippings into a little pot or keep in the pan, whatever you think is best. Heat up and add shallots.

Cook until they start to turn translucent, then stir in the cream. You don’t have to add it all if it seems too creamy for you. Add tarragon and stir for a minute to combine flavors.

Season with a few dashes of lemon juice and salt and pepper.