in honor of the olive: chicken with olive sauce

Life seems to be getting back to "normal" here. I'm still working in the lounge while Big Jim is busy upgrading our other computers. He's also busy on the job search front. A colleague from Amsterdam passed along a project notice for a position in Madrid; otherwise, not much to report...seems to be a fairly quiet week on JobSearch. After Big Jim started working in Amsterdam, I believe I mentioned that I began to experiment with having my main meal in the middle of the day, like the Spanish do. With my busy work schedule, I was finding myself too tired to even think about making a proper meal at nine in the evening. Plus I always thought the Spanish eating schedule made a lot of sense: food is essentially our bodies' fuel, and it is illogical to fill up just a couple hours before we go to sleep. After a few days, I found my hunger cycle adapted quite easily, so now that Big Jim is back, we have decided to keep to the new meal routine. In honor of the olive harvest season, I'm listing an easy recipe that I used to make our lunch today. I modified it from one I saw a little while ago on www.epicurious.com, which is a great foodie web site, lots of recipes. Here's what you need: Chicken (I used two leg/thigh pieces for Big Jim and I; if you one of those "boneless skinless chicken breast"-only people, that will work as well :-) S/P 1 tablespoon cumin 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper olive oil For the sauce: 1/2 cup olives (pitted or sin hueso) juice from half a lemon 2 cloves garlic Preheat the oven to 375 F, and place the chicken in a shallow baking dish with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with s/p, the cumin, and cayenne pepper. (I have an excellent kitchen tool that I bought at Williams-Sonoma a few years ago. It's an oil/vinegar sprayer. You simply add a bit of oil, pump the canister about ten times, and spray. It's fabulous for adding oil/vinegars to pans, salads, etc., and was cheap, too...about $10.) Bake the chicken, 20 minutes on each side (you may need to adjust time if you are using a boneless breast). In the meantime, prepare the sauce. Just throw everything into a blender, food processor---I use a Braun handmixer (another invaluable kitchen aid, in my opinion)---and pulse a few times until everything is blended. Spoon over chicken and return to the oven for five additional minutes. Today I served the chicken with a mix of couscous and diced carrots/red pepper/spring onion. Enjoy! Oh, and should you ever find yourself in the middle of an olive grove, don't try to eat the olives from the tree! I've never done so, but I understand they're horrible. The dogs seem to agree. They have both tried to sample a few that have fallen to the ground, and they immediately spit them out. And that says a lot, considering some of the unsavory bits they enjoy eating on the goat track! hasta pronto, mylifeinspain