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CHICKEN, SAUSAGES AND SAGE: ONE DISH COOKING AT ITS BEST.

CHICKEN, SAUSAGES AND SAGE: ONE DISH COOKING AT ITS BEST.
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         The bones for this recipe came from a famous English cook and television personality who shall remain nameless.  It’s not that I don’t devour the prose in the cookbooks the chef’s written.  It’s beautiful and seductive.  But when it comes to the recipes I’ve tried, I am sure the chef in question would request anonymity.  In my experience, they’ve led to some seriously flawed dishes.  A curry that was swimming in more liquid than Lake Ontario comes immediately to mind.  A cake that collapsed, on not just the first attempt at baking it, but the next as well.  I am not sure what the cause is—translating metric ingredients into cups and ounces? Un-tested recipes?  So you may ask why then would I tempt fate again?  I was seduced by a photograph showing deeply golden chicken and perfectly browned sausages.   The dish not only looked fantastic, it had been vetted at the kitchens of Food and Wine Magazine under the supervision of the great Grace Parisi, for whom I have undying respect.  So I tossed aside worries about its principal author and made it for a Sunday supper, adding a few ideas of my own.

Meyer Lemons are sweeter and smaller
than ordinary lemons and they’re in stores now
         Chicken on Sunday is my idea of true comfort food.  And pork sausage is my idea of heaven any day of the week.  Here the two tastes come together with some onions and mushrooms roasted in the same pan.  And if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s marinated overnight, it would take all of 15 minutes to prep and an hour and half to cook.  The marinade tenderizes the chicken with its lemon juice and flavors it with onions, mustard, sage and Worcestershire sauce. I used lots of Meyer lemon juice, which is sweeter and much less tart than ordinary lemon juice.  You might want to cut back if you are using ordinary lemons.   The next day, you pour the marinade into a large roasting pan, top it with the chicken, tuck the sausages, lemons, onions and mushrooms in amongst the chicken pieces, and into the oven it goes.  
        When it comes out of the oven, moist and golden brown, you’ll have a real crowd pleaser on your hands. Chicken lovers of all stripes will have their fill of juicy chicken.  The sausage lovers will be in heaven because the pan juices give the sausage an extra boost of flavor.  The ideal serving is a bit of each. Andrew suggests cutting the cooked breasts in halves so that your plate doesn’t look like pile-up.  And if you can find them, use smaller sausages than those big guys.  If you can’t, cook the larger sausages intact and when the dish is cooked, cut them in half.  That way, we can enjoy comfort dinners like this one, comforted by portion control.  I’m sure it would easily serve six.  But if you have leftovers, just put them into a baking dish, add some chicken stock and bake them for half an hour at 350 degrees.  Serve this with some sautéed spinach and you’re done. Here’s the recipe



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