Sunday Dinner

One thing I miss when hot summer days roll in is the leisurely ritual of Sunday dinner. On summer Sundays, you’re more likely to find us on the boat until well after sunset than at the dinner table, and we’re likely eating some sort of finger food, not a home cooked meal. While most people use Labor Day as the marker for end of summer, we tend to use our boating season, which ends at the end of October. Unfortunately, the weather sometimes refuses to acknowledge that, and yesterday brought gusty winds that would have made for a not-so-fun boat day. Instead, I did Autumn things, errands, cooking, and baking, and we had our first Sunday dinner in a long time.

The menu:

roasted chicken with a boiled cider glaze

crispy kale

roasted sweet potatoes, acorn squash, butternut squash

apple cider cake (post to come later this week)

The main component of dinner was a whole chicken, roasted simply with butter, pepper, and salt. While the chicken roasted, I boiled down apple cider into a delicious, syrupy consistency to use as a sauce for the chicken and vegetables. A cider glaze was definitely a good idea.

I cooked the chicken, sweet potatoes, and squash for a little over an hour, starting at 415 and lowering the temperature to 385, keeping an eye on everything to make sure the vegetables didn’t burn and the chicken cooked thoroughly. The smell of the butter basting the chicken was amazing.

Just before the chicken was done, I made my crispy kale, one of my favorite ways of eating kale. I just added dry kale to a little bit of oil in a pan and cooked on high until the edges were crispy and browned.

Once the chicken and veggies were cooked, everything came together quickly. I plated chicken on top of the kale with the other vegetables as a side, and I topped it all with the reduced apple cider.

With cool breezes coming through the window and the sun setting early, this dinner really hit the spot. I’m still not happy about the change of seasons, but a comforting meal and the love that goes into making it definitely makes it a little tastier.

Are you embracing fall flavors yet?