Vegetables Galore!

My stepfather is away this week so my mom shared the contents of her vegetable box with us. We got two green peppers, some scallions, a head of cauliflower, a small head of broccoli, arugula, lettuce, cilantro and beets. I also had some mushrooms from last week on hand, as well as four red potatoes, a package of chicken thighs and a quarter of a red onion.

I went on to the Food Network Web site and typed in "chicken thighs" and the first recipe that came up was for Rachael Ray's Grilled Chicken Thighs Cacciatore with Super Smashed Garlic Potatoes. As luck would have it, the cacciatore recipe used all the ingredients I had on hand. I always love mashed potatoes, so I was happy to see she recommended serving them with the cacciatore.

Of course I modified her recipe a tad since I was using small button mushrooms instead of portabellos, I don't own a grill pan anymore and I had green peppers instead of cubanelles, but the basic recipe was the same and boy was it tasty! I was surprised at how good it was for a meal I kind of threw together after not cooking for 3 days in a row.

I made my own garlic smashed potatoes by boiling the red potatoes (skin on!) with three cloves of garlic and then mashing everything together with butter, milk, salt and pepper. I chopped some scallions and threw those in for some onion-y flavor.

For our vegetable I decided to roast the broccoli and cauliflower. I love roasting broccoli. The flavor is unlike any other method for cooking the vegetable; it makes it nice and nutty. Since I had cauliflower as well I decided to roast both together. I cut both heads into floret, coated them with oil, salt and pepper and roasted them in a 400-degree oven for about 20-30 minutes, checking them every so often to make sure they weren't burning. Once the florets were nice and tender, I gave them a spritz of lemon, which really brightened them up.

Here's what I did for the cacciatore:

2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
button mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 pounds, 6 pieces or 1 package, boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Coarse black pepper
2 green peppers), seeded and thinly sliced
quarter of a red onion, thinly sliced
1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes, pureed

In a large bowl, combine balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire and crushed red pepper flakes. Add chicken thighs to marinade and coat evenly. Add some oil to a skillet over medium-high heat and then add the chicken. Cook 3 to 4 minutes before adding the garlic, mushrooms, peppers and onions to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper and cook, tossing frequently, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and heat through, allowing the sauce to thicken some.