For Sunday dinner we had pollo al mattone, also known as "chicken under a brick." This is the cover recipe from a recent Bon Appetit issue, and it deviates slightly from the traditional method that involves grilling. Instead, the marinated and butterflied chicken is cooked in a skillet, pressed down by the foil wrapped brick. I used my black cast-iron skillet, which I had recently used to roast some chicken leg quarters and wings that turned out very nice. Tonight the chicken's skin was almost sinfully delicious. I am sure that most nutrition obsessives would frown on eating it, but it would be a crime to waste something that tastes so good. I am willing to lose a few months at the end of my life, or even a few years, to be able to eat such things.
Along with the chicken we had some standard smashed red potatoes and roasted cauliflower. Everyone should discover the joys of roasting the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, caulifower, Brussels sprouts, etc.). Toss them with some olive oil, salt and pepper, maybe a sprinkling of the roasted garlic and red pepper sprinkles I get at Planter's Seed Co. in Kansas City, finished with a squeeze of lemon or some scattered parsley after they have roasted long enough to get a little browned and tender. There's no comparison between this and the steamed version.
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