Simple, but delicious

Sunday evening we had Kate, Jay and their two boys over for dinner. Hanks is four-years old and Charlie is about seven-month old. While I knew I didn't have to worry about Charlie I wanted something that Hank would be able to enjoy as well as the adults.

I opted for roast chicken, asparagus and mashed potatoes and a very simple but nice dessert. I've made all the meals before and have posted on them, except for the dessert, though I did a couple of things differently.

For the chicken I did a really nice compound butter. I diced two medium shallots along with about a teaspoon of thyme, a tablespoon of ground sage and freshly ground black pepper and probably two tablespoons of salt. I know it sounds like a lot of salt but you need it. I combined all those with about a stick and a half of room-temperature butter.

I took the butter and rubbed it under the skin of the chicken along with some in the cavity and on top. I then took some sea salt and pepper and put that on the skin as well.

The mashed potatoes I make are simple. Peeled red potatoes cooked in boiling water. drain and add butter, salt, pepper and fat-free sour cream and mash.

The asparagus was cooked in a frying pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

The meal was good, even Hank seemed to enjoy eating a fair amount of asparagus, which surprised me.

The dessert was fun and easy. The recipe was based off a recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. I used fresh berries instead of frozen and added a couple of other changes. Here's what I did.

6 oz Blueberries
6 oz Blackberries
6 oz Raspberries
1 TBL fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
6 TBL sugar
1 cup of AP flour
1 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP baking soda
1/8 TSP salt
2 TBL unsalted butter melted
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/8 TSP ground cinanamon
1/2 TSP ground nutmeg

In a frying pan over medium heat cook berries, water, lemon juice, 4 tablespoons of sugar until thick.

In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter and buttermilk until thick dough forms. After berries have reduced make dicide dough into six dumplings and place over cooked berries.

In a small container cmbine one tablespoon sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle over dumplings. Lower heat to medium low, cover pan and cook for about 15 minutes. Serve warm over vanilla ice cream.