Another Fifties-Style Chicken Recipe

Bored? Want something new? This is easy and tasty. Ingredients:

Chicken drumsticks

Salt and pepper

Vegetable of your choice (I used a red bell pepper)

Elephant garlic

Can of creamed asparagus soup (or mushroom, or anything else you think might go with chicken).

If you want to get fancy, a container of cream. I didn't happen to have any around when I made this, but it turned out fine. 

 Steps:

Arrange chicken legs in Pyrex baking dish

Slice pepper and distribute pieces around chicken. Ditto with garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Pour can of soup over all:

 Put in oven at about 200º C (about 400ºF) for an hour or less. Serve with rice or polenta:

Pleasant with white wine, rosé or beer.

The Death of Aleksei Navalny

I can only imagine it--what I imagine arises from recollections of reading the English translation of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's 1962 novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.  Arctic circle cold, near-starvation rations, chains, isolation. For months, Navalny's family has been reporting that he's not getting food--he was allowed to buy bowls of oatmeal, but these were only shown to him. He was not allowed to eat them. Did he just die of starvation or was he killed? After all the man has been through--the poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent, the trumped-up legal humiliations, charges, prison--I somehow still thought he'd survive. I hoped for an outcry, a rescue, a return to civilian life; I hoped he'd be up on YouTube again.

What matters is his courage; no matter the consequences, he said what he thought. I hope he will be remembered; I hope his work will be valued; I hope his sacrifice will move Russia toward the beginnings of democracy. 

As President Biden said, “He was everything Putin is not. He was brave, he was principled, he was dedicated to building a Russia where rule of law existed and where it applied to everybody.”

The Perfect Salad

 

Ingredients:

One elephant garlic clove, pressed (or any large clove of garlic)

Lemon juice from half a large lemon

Good greek olive oil (slosh it in--a tablespoon or two)

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Bits of deli chicken slices and/or ham

A ripe avocado

Grated fresh Parmesan or Grana Padano

Most of a head of Boston lettuce (but you could use other)

First, press the garlic and add the lemon juice and olive oil. Beat all together and add the pepper to taste. Then the meat, the avocado (in small pieces), the Parmesan. Last the lettuce. Toss well. Enjoy with a glass of rosé. 

I find this the perfect meal to accompany the binge-watching of Suits. I like pretending lawyers can really pull these stunts. 

You might chase your meal with a square or two of Tony's Caramel Sea Salt Chocolonely. Mmm, mmm good.