A little chicken, a little garlic, a little muscle...Using weights to compress marinating foods is not new. I have seen recipes like this one in a food magazines like Fine Cooking. One of them is by Chef Joseph Verde (formerly of Oscar's in New York City's Waldorf Astoria, now with the Millennium Hilton in New York). I spoke with Chef Verde recently and he was delighted with my adaptation of his recipe. He says methods similar to the one described below have been used in Italy for generations. After some testing recently, my sons and I decided, that when we finally open our jazz-bar-bistro-comedy-club-bakery some years from now, this dish will be a mainstay on the menu.

It's worth noting that I turned the original recipe inside out, for all intents and purposes and it still produced a lovely dish. I used regular sized chickens - Chef Verde prefers smaller birds (around 1.5 pounds). There was no rosemary, I used chives with the thyme. I like parsley and lemon, so in they went along with a splash of white wine. I forgot to drain marinade from the chicken before cooking. I did not preheat my cast iron skillet so some of the chicken skin remained stuck. I pan roasted entirely in the oven.

My worst crime, perhaps, was sending my youngest son Benjamin, into the snowy back yard to fetch two bricks from an old stone BBQ. I watched my pint-sized Ben dutifully retrieve the bricks and then spend several minutes dumping snow out of his boots. What some sons won't do for the mama bird. Get this kid some extra Pokemon cards.

I served this with sauteed pasta and rice and a green salad. My sons gave this a "10". This restored the Chez Nous Dining Room to a five star establishment. (We lost a star recently for using canned cream of chicken soup in our homemade chicken pot pie and for buying generic Macaroni and Cheese).
Two foil-wrapped bricks and a cast iron skillet are essential.