Thyme Roasted Chicken with Mustard Croutons and a Brussels Sprouts Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• Or better yet, you can revel in Melissa’s recipe craft in her great
• Recipe for Melissa Clark’s Mother’s Thyme Roasted Chicken with Mustard
• Croutons
• Country bread, ciabatta or other
• sturdy bread, preferably stale and sliced
• 1/2 inch thick
• Extra virgin olive
• oil, as needed
• 1 1/2
• teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed
• 1 (4 -5
• lb) chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces,
• rinsed and patted dry
• Or two
• skin-on chicken thighs per person
• 1 head garlic, separated into cloves (but not peeled)
• 1 bay leaf, torn into pieces
• Preheat oven to 425°F Lay the bread slices in the bottom of a
• heavy-duty roasting pan in one layer. Brush with mustard, drizzle
• liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper and place the pieces
• on the bread, arranging the white meat in the center and the dark meat and
• wings around the sides. Scatter the garlic cloves, bay leaf, and thyme
• over the chicken and drizzle everything with more oil (take care to
• drizzle the garlic cloves).
• Roast the chicken until it's lightly browned and the thigh juices
• run clear when pricked with a knife, about 50 minutes. If you like, you
• can crisp the skin by running the pan under the broiler for a minute,
• though you might want to rescue the garlic cloves before you do so they
• don't burn (if you don't plan to eat them, it doesn't matter so much).
• Serve the chicken with pieces of bread from the pan.
• Recipe for Brussels Sprouts Salad
• I can’t say that Andrew and I are huge fans of Brussels
• Sprouts. As a child, they were often
• pushed around my plate and left uneaten.
• Since then, we’ve enjoyed some really nice recipes using them. So when I saw this take on them, I wanted to
• try it. I enjoyed the crunch of the
• sprouts and the toasted walnuts, the tang of the cheese and the lemon
• juice. Andrew, however, did not. This recipe makes a lot of Salad so I had
• plenty left over. Remembering a
• Thanksgiving recipe of Brussels Sprouts and bacon, I revisited the salad, folding in some crispy
• bacon and then putting the whole thing on the stove and stir-frying the
• sprouts. The results were much more
• appealing to Andrew. And it sounded like
• something Melissa wouldn’t mind. After
• all, her mother changes Melissa’s recipes all the time.
• 10
• oz Brussels sprouts, trimmed
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Coarse salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1 c toasted walnuts, chopped
• 3/4 c Manchego cheese, grated
• 6
• slices of Smoked Bacon, cooked and chopped (optional)
• Put the Brussels sprouts into a food processor fitted with the slicing
• disc. Put the sprouts in a bowl and toss
• with lemon juice and a little salt and pepper. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the
• olive oil and toss well. Gently stir in the walnuts and cheese. Taste and
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