Roast chicken à la Bastille in Ballard (well, not quite)
Last week, the Intrepid One, No. 1 son and I ate dinner at Bastille in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. The food, service and bistro were oh so divine.
Ingredients at Bastille are locally sourced, and some of the fresh vegetables grow on the bistro’s rooftop garden.
No. 1 son ordered a rabbit stew; I had the falafel sandwich (vegetarian friends, please take note); but my husband picked the best dish on the menu, I decided: roasted chicken. The chicken pieces were surrounded by sungold tomatoes, chopped green beans, green onions and arugula. After that, I don’t know, but last night we tried to replicate the recipe. It wasn’t the same, but it was good nonetheless. Here’s what we came up with:
Roasted chicken with arugula and sungold tomatoes
1/2 basket sungold tomoatoes
2 chicken legs (drumsticks with thighs attached)
20 fresh green beans, cut into rounds
4 green onions, cut into rounds
1/2 cup chopped arugula
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt, pepper
olive oil
Wash and cut the sungolds in half. Salt them and place them in a colander with a bowl underneath so it will collect the juice. Let the tomatoes drain for 45 minutes.
Peel the skin off the chicken legs and thighs. Rub them with olive oil and place on a hot grill for 20 minutes, turning a couple of times.
Pour olive oil into a frying pan and sauté the green beans, onion and arugula. Remove from the pan and then brown the underdone chicken that you’ve taken off the grill. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper and the juice from the sungolds. When that is bubbling nicely, add the tomatoes and the vegetables that you had removed. Stir through a couple of times, coating the chicken.
Season with more salt and pepper as needed. Serves two.
Bastille: 5307 Ballard Ave. NW, Seattle; (206-453-5014)
Janet Cleaveland
What happens when a retired journalist spends a lot more time in the kitchen than in past years? She tries new dishes and jumps at the chance to write a blog about food, family and good times. My kids are grown now, but I'll be looking back at how they learned to cook, what recipes my husband (the Intrepid One) and I are experimenting with, and how food and conversation make for happy times in the kitchen. I worked for The Columbian for 15 years as a copy editor and another 10 elsewhere, though I didn't start out as a journalist. I thought I wanted to teach English literature. My husband grew up in Clark County, and I've lived here since 1983. My kids have grown and left home. Like my husband of 52 years, our adopted chocolate Lab would never pass up a chance for a tasty meal.