• Brine chicken in salt water for 30 minutes
• Rinse with water
• Pepper
• Sear skin-side down on a skillet for 10 minutes, flip halfway
• 10 minutes in a 450 degree oven
• Transfer chicken to a plate
• Use the same skillet you cooked the chicken in to make the sauce
• 1:2 ratio of sherry vinegar to marsala wine
• Add chicken stock & reduce until you have half the liquid

Carrot mashed potatoes:

• In a big pot, caramelize carrots with a tub of melted butter (mmm!)
• In the same pot, add peeled & cubed potatoes that have been rinsed in water — to remove some of the starch
• Add chicken stock and simmer for 25 minutes
• Uncover for a few minutes to remove some of the moisture
• Mash potatoes & carrots
• Add half-and-half and fresh chives
• Get dubbed, “Best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had… That I can remember.”

And here’s the asparagus recipe. My default side dish when I can’t think of anything else. It’s super quick and I always have the ingredients on hand.

Almost everything was based on or completely stolen from Cook’s Illustrated, which is my go-to place for recipes.