This is one of those recipes where it sounds like a lot of work because the instructions are very detailed, but once you do it, you'll find it's not that difficult. Many of the Italian restaurants here in Las Vegas have chicken cooked under a brick on the menu, but it's easy to make at home. We don't have a good charcoal grill here, so I will make mine in the oven in a cast iron skillet with the bricks on top.

Cutting out the backbone of the chicken with kitchen shears makes it cook a lot faster and more evenly. Even if you weren't going to weight it down with bricks this recipe is a good one for baked chicken.

Chicken Cooked Under a Brick

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon cumin seeds, crushed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 1/2 - 4 pound whole chicken

In a large baking dish, whisk together all the ingredients. With breast side down, use kitchen shears to cut out the backbone out of the chicken. Turn the chicken breast side up and open it out on the work surface using your hand to flatten it. Place in the baking dish with the marinade and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 6 hours. Wrap 2 bricks in 2 layers of heavy foil and place on charcoal grill grates. Heat the grill on high. When ready to cook turn off the middle burner and reduce the sides to medium-high (375 - 400 degrees).

Remove the chicken from the marinade and blot off the excess with a paper towel. Lightly oil the grill grates. Place the chicken on the center of the grill, skin side down. Using tongs or oven mitts place the bricks on top of the chicken. Close the cover and grill for 10 to 15 minutes until the skin is well browned. Remove the bricks and use tongs and a spatula to turn the chicken over. Place the bricks back on the chicken and grill until it reaches 165 degrees, about 10 or 15 minutes more. Transfer to a cutting board, cover with foil and let rest 10 minutes. Cut into quarters to serve.

Speaking of grilling, it's amazing how much easier the grill grates are to clean when they are hot. It's hard to remember to do that when you've just finished cooking, the inclination is to close the cover and forget about the grill until the next time you want to use it. If you did forget to go back out there after dinner and clean the still warm grate, next time you use it, grab some paper towel with your tongs, dip it in cooking oil, and rub it over the pre-heated grill grates. A lot of gunk will come off. You'd clean it the same way after cooking, but if you're like me, you'll forget.

Seasoned Spinach

4 pounds fresh spinach (or frozen spinach for 6 servings)
1/4 cup butter (or olive oil) and less if you want
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Trim the tough ends off the spinach and wash well in cold water. Place in a skillet or heavy saucepan with only the water that clings to the leaves. Cover and cook about 10 minutes and drain well. Use a sharp knife to cut it into shreds and set aside. Heat the butter or oil in another saucepan and saute the onion and red pepper in it until just soft. Add the well-drained spinach, oregano, and season with salt and pepper. Heat through and serve hot.

This recipe is from Classic American Cooking by restauranteur Pearl Byrd Foster. The restaurant was on East 81st St. in New York City. Here is a blog comment by one of her descendants:

" Mr. and Mrs. Fosters Place...amazing. Pearl Byrd Foster was my great aunt -- she was one of the worlds renowned chefs during the 50's and 60's and early 70's -- respected worldwide for her "culinary genius" in the genre of "American Cooking".

I remember spending summers helping her in the restaurant, meeting famous people (David Frost, Walter Cronkite, Dick Cavett come to mind immediately) dining there...

I remember shopping with her in the mornings, for hours she would shop and inspect each item of produce...

Mr. and Mrs. Fosters place was a black tie and jacket affair; if you didn't arrive with either she had both for you to wear before you were seated...

She had a successful recipe book called "Classic American Cooking" which is still available online or at Amazon, etc.

I still have her recipe files, hundreds (maybe thousands) of them; notes on collaborations with famous French chefs (she would close the restaurant for 6 weeks every summer and travel to Paris as guest of some of the most renowned French Chefs at the time) -- so many memories."