What The Flock?!

The 'Tarts Cook Their Hearts Out For Haiti' dinner continues and it's probably time we bring you the main course, the jewel of the necklace, our Magnum Opus...

"What did we decide to make again, Danielle?"

"Chicken in Sauce, Erin."

"Chicken? Chicken???!!! Do you know how hard it is to cook chicken for twelve people??!!! At our first Tart party? Our first Tarty? Why, would we do that, Danielle?!

"Because we're nuts."

Ahhhhhh! Here we are, our first Tarty and we're not only preparing a cuisine we know nothing about, but we're also cooking chicken. For twelve people. WTF? Gonna have to call for back-up.

"Hamilton!!!!!"

OK. Here we go...

Chicken in Sauce

(We quadrupled this recipe...because we were feeding twelve people...because we're insane.)

1 medium sized fryer chicken

1 large onion sliced in rounds

1 large pepper (mild or hot; we used half a poblano)

several cloves of garlic, smashed or minced

3/4 cups of tomato sauce

3 Tbsp sugar

generous pinch of salt

lime or lemon

dash of oil

Wash chicken well and cut into pieces; if you're a Tart, have the 'chicken man' do it for you. Rub each piece with the lemon or lime and sprinkle with salt.

"Thanks Ham!"

Heat oil in a heavy pan (cast iron is best, as the pan will then be placed in the oven). Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 F and fry the chicken pieces in hot oil. While chicken is frying combine the garlic, sugar, tomato sauce and salt in a bowl. Mix well. After a few minutes add the onion rounds and pepper rounds to the pan, stir well.

Within a few minutes the chicken should be well-browned. Remove from heat, drain excess oil and add the tomato mixture. Stir well. Place the entire pan in the oven and bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked completely.

Finally, plate the chicken and top with the cooked onions and peppers and drizzle with the drippings from the pan. You can also top with rounds of raw onion or the Picklese.

We think our chicken turned out moist and delicious; equal parts sweet and spicy. What did our guests think? We'll let you know soon! Again, thanks to Ham for backin' us up and Rye for capturing it all on film...or well, a memory card.

More recipes from our Haitian meal to come.

To help feed the people of Haiti, please donate to http://www.wfp.org/