Fast...Easy... and Fabulous (and the memory that goes with it)

   Often, when I cook a dish it sets off a chain of memories.  Sometimes I remember the first time I prepared it, sometimes for whom it was prepared, and more times than not I remember the occasion for which it was cooked, or in this case, created.  Whenever I need a fast, easy and fabulous dish this is the one I choose,(it looks so complicated and difficult but is extremely simple) and always this memory comes with it...

   Chicken with Cherries is a recipe that inevitably conjures the same recollection every time I make it.  We were living in an apartment in New Jersey.  We had a small son and I was pregnant with our second child.  We were just starting out, saving for a house in the suburbs, feverishly collecting Green Stamps, and owning one car. I did daily rather than weekly marketing buying fresh veggies and meats the day I wanted to cook them... the fridge was far too small to hold the large marketing I did in later years.  I usually had the car and my husband took a bus the short distance to his office, but on this particular day he had taken the car because he was meeting his boss and touring the company locations.

  Ummmm...nice.  A quiet evening with my little boy, then feed him, bathe him and bed.  Afterward I could have a light dinner put up my swollen feet and curl up with a book until my husband got home.  NOT!  In one second chaos began with the ring of the phone.  My husband calmly informed me that they were almost finished with their inspections and he had invited his boss back home for dinner!  "WHAT???", I bellowed into the phone...  "I have very little in the house and no car to get to the market".  "OH, I am sure you will pull something together", he replied...and with that signed off after informing me I had about an hour and a half until tthey arrived.

   I quickly lifted my son out of the play-pen (remember, this was the late 60's) and ran down the hall to a neighbor and asked her to keep an eye on him for a while....returned to the apartment...called a cab...pulled on a jacket (which, I recall, did not zip up because of my baby belly) and got outside just as the taxi arrived...  we headed to the market where I grabbed anything I thought would cook quickly and returned to the waiting driver who was now a part of the plan and was busily discussing menu choices with me...Got home and began by placing the cut up chicken in a metal baking dish...hmm sort of remembered a recipe I had from a friend but no time to look for it so I improvised by mixing some french salad dressing with sherry and poured it over the chicken...maybe some garlic powder...ok...in the oven..picked up my son...fed him...bathed him ...put him to sleep...got out a nice tablecloth, The Good Dishes, Silver and Crystal (it was the BOSS, after all)...cleaned myself up and got some make-up applied...returned to check the chicken and tossed in some dark sweet pitted cherries that I  found in the cupboard... and arranged the little bunch of flowers I had just bought...made some appetizers...set out a bar...made some rice and veggies and was cool as a cucumber when the door opened.

   I sat briefly for a glass of ginger ale with the two men who were having drinks and the cheese and crudites I had set out...then into the kitchen...the chicken was succulent and served on a bed of long grain and wild rice...string beans sauteed with garlic and parmigiana cheese and a salad of pears and boursin cheese rounded out the meal...

                                                   
   At the table I knew I had a winner when both my husband ( not a huge chicken fan) and our guest, had seconds.  As I cleared the table my husband followed me into the kitchen...Now I would hear the complimnets, I was sure...
He: "Wow, great Honey, I thought we had no food in the house to prepare for a guest."
Me: "I called a cab and went to the market, came home, started the meal, fed and bathed the baby, put him to bed, started dinner, set the table, showered, dressed, finished preparing the food, set up the bar..."
He: "...so I suppose you forgot to get  the Green Stamps!!!"
Gotta love a man with a one track mind!!!!

CHICKEN WITH CHERRIES

Set oven to 375 degrees
Pam a baking pan

1 chicken cut in 1/8ths
1 16oz bottle of Country French Dressing (I use Ken's)
1 can Dark Sweet Pitted Cherries ( drained of about 3/4 of the liquid)
garlic powder
sherry or white wine
1- Place chicken skin side up in a baking pan (I prefer a metal pan)
2- Pour contents of French dressing bottle into a large measuring cup
3- Pour sherry or white wine into empty dressing bottle filling it half full...and shake with top on to get all the dressing left to mix with the wine...then add to the dressing in the measuring cup.  Add garlic powder to taste. Stir well.
4- Pour liquid over the chicken and place in oven, basting after 15 minutes, then 30 minutes. Salt and pepper not needed as dressing already has seasoning)
5-While chicken is cooking, partially drain the cherries and after 1/2 hour... at the second basting...  toss cherried and remaining juice the over the chicken mixing them in with the gravy.
6- Bake until chicken is golden and crusty on top...about 50-55 minutes.

PEAR AND BOURSIN SALAD

3/4 package Boursin cheese
1 large or 2 med/small Romaine lettuces shredded
2 pears sliced and cored
pignoli nuts (toasted)
raspberry vinaigrette
1- Shred lettuce as you would for caesar salad
2- Slice pears in half and remove core with melon baller...then cut thin slices...add to lettuce
3- Toss with raspberry vinaigrette using enough to well moisten leaves and pears
4- With a fork scrape in about 3/4 of a package of Boursin cheese and toss again
5- Just before serving pour 1/2 cup pignoli nuts onto a dry pan and toast lightly (about three minutes) and sprinkle over salad.

I have used this salad as a main course adding chunks of chicken or crab meat or shrimp.