Chili-Spiced Chicken Thighs and Potatoes

 December 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2023

I leaned of this sheet-pan recipe from Cook's Illustrated magazine. While the idea of a sheet-pan dinner seems like a culinary fad to me this particular combination was appealing. We like roasted potatoes and we like chicken thighs so it seemed a good combination to try and an interesting use of a sheet pan. I found a "for two" recipe online and used it to prepare four chicken thighs rather than the six or more in the original recipe. As usual it provided two meals for the two of us.

The primary change I made to the recipe was using yellow potatoes rather than Yukon Gold potatoes due to supermarket availability. I also skipped the scallion and lime garnishes. A spice rub was made with kosher salt, chili powder, paprika, black pepper, granulated garlic (subbing for garlic powder), and cayenne pepper. Yellow potatoes were peeled and cut into one-inch pieces. Four bone-in chicken thighs were trimmed of excess fat and skin, three slits were made on the flesh side of each thigh, the skin was pierced with a paring knife, and the spice mixture was rubbed over both sides of the chicken pieces. The trim was placed on a quarter sheet pan and roasted to render the fat; the trim was discarded leaving the fat on the pan. While the trim cooked the potatoes were parboiled in water seasoned with baking soda. The potatoes were drained and dried over low heat then the rendered fat and salt were added and stirred coating the potatoes with a starchy paste. (This helps the potatoes to brown.) The potatoes were transferred to the baking sheet and baked in a 450° oven until browned on the bottom. They were flipped and room was made on the baking sheet for the chicken thighs. The pan was returned to the oven to roast the potatoes and chicken. Total time was 110 minutes.

The potatoes and chicken were pretty good, though some of the potatoes were black rather than golden brown. The potatoes were nice and crispy and did not take on a strong chicken flavor from cooking in the schmaltz. The spice rub was a little too spicy for our tastes and we wondered if a gentler spice mixture could be used, perhaps garlic powder and salt or salt, parsley, sage, and thyme? Cooking the chicken and potatoes together was convenient and the leftovers were reheated in a 350° oven.

German Farmer's Breakfast

 December 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2023

I saw this recipe demonstrated on an episode of America's Test Kitchen. It is the sort of meal that Diane likes and has for brunch most days, so I added it to my list of recipes to try. Half of it was served as dinner for the two of us and the second half warmed for a second dinner.

I made no changes to the recipe other than omitting the fresh parsley garnish. The recipe specifies Yukon Gold potatoes but not finding these I used gold potatoes. Three strips of bacon were chopped and cooked in a skillet to render their fat. Finely chopped onion was added and cooked until soft and golden brown. The bacon and onion were transferred to a bowl leaving the fat behind. Butter was added to the fat, melted, and potato slices were added. They were cooked, uncovered, for about 9 minutes, then covered and cooked until tender. The cover was removed and the potatoes cooked until golden brown. The bacon and onion were then stirred into the potatoes. Butter was added and after it had melted gently-beaten eggs poured over and between the potatoes. Once the eggs had set they were lifted around the edges as the skillet was tipped so the uncooked egg ran under the mixture to cook. The pan was covered and cooked until the eggs were set. Preparing ingredients took about 20 minutes and total time was an hour. 

This was a pretty good dinner. It was a little bland but adding some additional salt and parsley should fix this.  The dish didn't hold together real well so maybe it should have cooked a little longer, but this was not a big problem. The leftovers were heated in a skillet and were just as good, if not better, than the original dish.

Oven-Roasted Salmon

December 2025

Recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook, America's Test Kitchen, 2012, p. 214; a version is also available online.

While flipping through this cookbook for a mini-meatloaf recipe I happened to stumble over some salmon recipes. Several of the recipes from this book have become staples for us as they are good to eat and relatively easy to prepare. There are several salmon recipes that we have been enjoying but trying something new might lead to a new household staple.

A rimmed baking sheet was placed on the lowest rack of the oven and the oven was heated to 500°. The skin on two salmon fillets was scored to prevent curling and to allow rendered fat to drain. The salmon was rubbed with olive oil then with a dry rub of coriander, sugar, salt, pepper, and cayenne. When the oven had reached 500° the temperature was reduced to 275° and the baking sheet was removed. The salmon fillets were placed on the hot baking sheet skin side down and placed in the oven. The salmon was roasted to an internal temperature of 125° (medium rare), about 11 minutes. Total time was 45 minutes and much of this (about 30 minutes) was heating the oven to 500°.

The salmon was good, nicely cooked with a crispy skin. However we didn't think that the dry rub added anything to the salmon. It fish have been improved with a sauce or glaze which, if used, would seem to make the dry rub redundant. Indeed, the online recipe uses just salt and pepper. Scoring the tough salmon skin without going too deep into the flesh was a challenge. I don't know that this method of cooking salmon is easier or quicker than other methods which are also quick and easy. 

Dutch Apple Pie (Appeltaart)

November 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2024

This was one of two new apple recipes that I wanted to try, but it was actually the other one (Gâteau Invisible) that I had in mind. But when I looked at my ingredients after a trip to the supermarket I found I had purchased items for the Dutch Apple Pie. Fortunately I had planned on trying this one, too, so all is good. This treat is often served at celebrations, such as birthdays, in The Netherlands.

The only modification I made to the recipe was to omit the small amount of nutmeg as Diane doesn't like it. Golden Delicious apples were peeled, cored, and cut into 16 wedges (we have a tool that makes this easy). They were combined with sugar and cooked until slightly softened. The apples and juices were transferred to a baking sheet to cool. (Unintuitively, this step prevents the apples from losing their shape when baked.)

The crust was prepared while the apples cooled. Flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt were combined in a bowl. A lightly-beaten egg, melted butter, and water were stirred into the flour mixture. The dough was divided into three equal portions. One was rolled out and refrigerated. One was pressed into the bottom of a 9" springform pan. The other was pressed into the sides of the pan and the pan was also refrigerated for about 25 minutes.

The cooled apples were transferred to the bowl and mixed with golden raisins, cornstarch, lemon juice, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, coriander, and salt. They were then pressed into the chilled, dough-lined pan. The sheet of chilled dough was cut into 1¼-inch stirips that were placed on top of the apples. The pie was baked at 375° for 70 minutes until the apples were tender. For the last 30 minutes the crust was covered with aluminum foil. Total time, except for cooling, was about 3 hours with a significant amount hands off.

The pie was good. As usual for apple pies Diane thought it did not have enough cinnamon though I appreciate the more conservative amount and, in this case, the other spices. The slices of pie are larger than usual because of the height of the pie; we usually have it over the course of 4 nights eating ⅛-th at a timed some times it was too much. Some of the apples turned to apple sauce while cooking. I suspect these were riper than the others, there was a mix of yellow and green-ish apples which should be avoided in the future. The crust is easier to make than the usual butter-and-flour flaky crust when fresh it was nice and crispy, which I enjoyed, though not so crispy on subsequent eating.