Oven baked BBQ chicken and au gratin potatoes

[merlinofchaos]

To be honest these are so simple that they're barely recipes. They are certainly not earth shattering. Mostly the difficulty is that it's time consuming since you have to bake for 75-90 minutes.


Oven Baked BBQ Chicken

• Chicken pieces -- I prefer dark meat. White meat will be more likely to overcook so exercise caution.
  
• My BBQ sauce -- or if you're not willing to make some, go buy a bottle of your favorite bbq sauce.
  
• A little salt
  

Preheat oven to 350.

Arrange the chicken pieces in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt so you have a nice even coating. Coat both sides. Cover the dish with foil. Bake the chicken for 50 minutes.

Remove chicken from oven and pour off liquid. Turn oven up to 450.

Cover each piece of chicken liberaly with BBQ sauce, both side. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Flip. Bake for 10 more minutes.

Au Gratin Potatoes

These are nothing more than sliced russet potatoes in a cheesy bechamel sauce, baked. Somehow the combination is absolutely delicious.

The cheese sauce

• 2 tablespoons flour
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
  
• 1 heavy pinch of salt
  
• 1 1/2 cups milk
  
• 1 /12 cups grated cheese -- we eat a lot of Mexican food so I keep a mexican blend, and I mixed that with shredded mozzarella. Typically this will call for cheddar.
  

Heat a saucier or sauce pan to medium heat. Melt the butter and pour in the flour until you've got a nice roux. Cook for several minutes to cook the floury taste out of the roux. Add the milk and stir until you've got a nice thick bechamel sauce. Add the grated cheese. Stir until sauce is smooth and thick.

The potatoes

• 2 large russet potatoes sliced 1/8-1/4 thick.
  
• Salt to taste
  

Arrange in a greased casserole dish. Give the potatoes a light coating of salt. Arange the potatoes in layers: Potato, cheese, potato, cheese until you run out of potato.

Bake covered at 350 for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake at 450 for another 10-20 to crisp up the top.