Pittsburgh’s Best Kept Secret, Cookbooks, and Cherry Chicken

On the 14th my wonderful husband and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, as a treat to ourselves we went to dinner this weekend at La Tavola on Mount Washington in Pittsburgh which happens to be Pittsburgh’s best kept secret. When a lot of locals think of Mt. Washington, they immediately think Le Mont and like which isn’t a bad thing, but folks also think of multiple dollar signs. La Tavola is actually very nicely priced, about as much as you would spend for some dishes at the Olive Garden, but the food is homemade. If you are stumped for a nice place to eat in the Pittsburgh area, be sure to check it out. Make things easy for yourself though, and make a reservation and don’t do it the day before. The restaurant is on the smaller side and tends to get packed.

Cookbooks. The past two weekends, I have stopped by the local Barnes and Noble and picked up two cookbooks. One is called “Fresh From The Central Market” Cookbook, which is a collection of recipes from people who have stands at The Central Market in Lancaster, Pa. According too the book, The Central Market is the oldest Farmer’s Market in the Country. I thought that was pretty cool and add that to some of the recipes it contains, and I thought it was a good choice. The second book I picked up is a Taste of Home cookbook and it deals with recipes you would make for a church supper. I happen to like Taste of Home magazine, all of the recipes are submitted by readers, so they have been tested by home cooks like myself, and not some test kitchen somewhere. Instead of having a bunch of chef’s in white coats deciding if a recipe is good or not, you have a regular family testing it. Plus, most of these types of recipes have ingredients that aren’t off the wall and are readily available.

On Sunday, I decided that I was going to try out a recipe from the Central Market Book that really jumped out at me. This recipe was cherry chicken. I absolutely love cherries and anything cherry flavored and though that it sounded really good. My husband had other ideas. He’s not a fan of cherries and needless to say, was less than thrilled at the prospect of eating chicken that tastes like cherries and he was routing for pizza on Sunday night.

The whole cooking process of this chicken was pretty uneventful. No fires, no cuts, no huge catastrophes, no children or animals under foot. It was actually one of the more calm cooking experiences that I have had lately. I was very surprised though, by the ingredients in this recipe and how it took shape. First, it called for a can of bing cherries in heavy syrup, canned cherries in syrup is NOT the same thing as cherry pie filling. Cherry pie filling was what immediately came to mind when I first read the recipe but heavy syrup is different than cherry pie syrup. Heavy Syrup = sugar and water. Because of this, the syrup was not cherry flavored and this leads me to my next surprise in the ingredients: orange juice and lemon juice. These two ingredients took over the flavor profile of this dish. Instead of this dish tasting like a cherry pie, it was actually kind of citrusy.

The verdict: A sweet and tangy chicken dish that completely surprised my husband and myself. It reminded me of a cross of chinese sweet and sour chicken and bbq chicken. What was even better is that it was so friggin’ easy to make! All I had to do mix up the sauce, dump it on the chicken, and every 20 minutes or so, spoon the sauce over the chicken. Within an hour or so you have a great chicken dinner, and all you have to do is serve it with your choice of veggie and side. I served this with parmesan noodle-roni, corn bread and a baby corn mixed veggie steam pack.

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Cherry Chicken

one chicken cut up (I used a pack of thighs)
1 can of bing cherries in heavy syrup
1tsp dry mustard
2tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup brown sugar packed
juice of 1 fresh lemon
orange juice added to lemon juice to make 1/2 cup of juice

Preheat oven to 375. Arrange chicken pieces in greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Drain cherries, reserving liquid in saucepan. Add dry mustard, corn starch, brown sugar, and lemon and orange juice to cherry juice in saucepan. Heat until thicken stirring constantly. Pour the thickened liquid over chicken pieces and arrange the cherries around the pieces of chicken. Bake uncovered for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is tender. Baste the meat with juices every 20 minutes or so.