Tasty Chicken, aka "Catalina Chicken"

as i have often said, my wife is a direct descendant of immigrants from slovakia. when her grandmother emigrated from a small town called zakarovce, they settled in a small cluster of tiny villages a few miles southeast of great falls, montana, where her great-grandfather and grandfather worked the coal mines, providing power for industry and transportation in the early decades of the 20th century. back in kentucky or west virginia, these hilly, rocky areas would be called "hollows" or, in more colloquial fashion, "hollers;" however, in the western US these areas were known as "coulees." this particlular area, sand coulee, was also known as "the gulch." the people of the gulch were primarily immigrants from the slovak region, along with italians and other groups from southern and eastern europe. they brought with them deep traditions of three important facets of life from that region: roman catholicism, close-knit family and food.

fast forward a few decades, and those familial traditions are just as strong today as they were back then, and food is still as intrinsic to the local population as their religion. as is often the case in any society, the elders of the community took on the responsibility of preserving some of this heritage in this case, the preservation came in the form of a cookbook, featuring family recipes from area residents. this collection of old and new recipes was planned and produced by the local senior citizens' center and is a tribute to those traditions. titled "cooking with friends of the gulch," the dedication reads:

this cookbook is meant as a tribute to the many homemakers and cooks of our area and others far and wide who are friends of the gulch. the area referred to as "the gulch" is southeast of the city of great falls, montana. this area is comprised of the small towns of tracy, sand coulee, no. 7, centerville and stockett. the early pioneers of these towns came together in the 1800s from different parts of the globe to work in the coal mines of the community. now these mines are closed, but many of the descendents still reside in "the gulch." thus, the different nationalities and their recipes handed down from generation to generation have become a part of our every day living, enhancing our lives with friendly neighbours and friends.

as i said before, there are many "old school" recipes there, and also many that have come to families much more recently. it is a good mix that keeps alive the close-knit family sructure that is in the gulch and exemplifies the people living there. the recipe i am going to discuss here is one of those recipes.

i came home the other night from work to a house that smelled wonderful - many familiar little aromas in the air, but i had never quite encountered them put together like this. what could it be?

i walked into the kitchen to find the beautiful mrs. tas pulling something out of the oven - not wishing to spoil the moment, i went into the living room and watched TV for a few minutes while she finished her preparations. it wasn't long before she served something i had never seen before - a nice-looking chicken dish with a really delicious-looking and chunky reddish sauce, sitting next to a more-familiar mound of creamy-cheesy casserole made from diced potatoes. i tried the chicken and was immediately hit with a burst of bright fresh flavours - perfect for the emerging spring that we are having up here in north-central montana. it was a little sweet, a little tart, very savory and filled the mouth with surprises from many directions.

i asked her what the sauce was made of, and in reply she picked up the camera and tossed it to me.....

PICTURES?! mrs. tas taking PICTURES of food? this was un-heard of! usually i am getting ridiculed for the act! this was too good to be true!

i checked the calendar, but it wasn't april fool's day yet, so i switched on the camera and was introduced this wonderful recipe, which i highly recommend:

the goods (not pictured, a bunch of leg quarters):



]by the looks of it, this one was as simple as 1-2-3. mrs. tas put the onion soup mix into a large mixing bowl:



then stirred in the catalina dressing:



then added the chicken:



and tossed it all around before putting it in the fridge to marinate for 3 hours:



after baking at 350 degrees for 1 hour in a baking dish, here's what we had:



that's it! how easy can it get? - the answer is that it can't get any easier, and the taste is really worth raving about.

and here's the recipe and shopping list:

tasty chicken 1 cut-up chicken 1 package lipton onion soup 1 jar apricot-pineapple preserves 1 large bottle of catalina or russian dressing mix the last 3 ingredients in a 9 x 13-inch pan; coat the chicken in mixture. marinate for 3 hours, then bake at 350 for 1 hour.

i really can't exaggerate how good this was - even though it is a more "modern" recipe, one can readily see just how it builds on the peasant tradition for good, simple food with few ingredients that are readily available, and turns it into a wonderful meal.