Last Friday, I had Kathy and Vance over for dinner in the new place. I don’t have chairs yet, so we moved the coffee table into the dining room and sat on the floor around it.

Chicken livers had been a topic of conversation earlier in the week, so I looked for a good recipe and found a bacon-wrapped chicken liver appetizer recipe. Easy and very delicious (assuming you like liver): Dip the livers in bread crumbs, wrap in half of a slice of bacon, and secure with a toothpick. Bake on a roasting pan on at 350 until the bacon is done how you like it (45 minutes for medium cripsy worked for us). When they come out of the oven, sprinkle with grated parmesan.

For the main course, I made the Ligurian Chicken recipe that I got from Rachel a few years ago. I loved it when she made it for me, and it has become a good recipe for me to use for company, since it’s pretty hard for me to screw up.

Here’s the recipe (from the NYTimes, adapted by Rachel):

2 Tblsp. flour, mixed on a plate with salt and pepper
1 four pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces (bone-in)
[I usually use a mix of legs and thighs, since I like them better]
2 Tblsp. olive oil
4 fresh rosemary sprigs
6 thinly sliced garlic cloves
1 1/2 cups white wine
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, with or without pits
3 ripe plum tomatoes, halved, seeded, and coarsely chopped

Dredge the pieces in 2 Tblsp. flour, mixed with salt and pepper, then saute them in olive oil over medium-high heat. Don’t be tempted to touch them until they develop a golden crust and the juices are sealed in. Turn them over, adding four little branches of rosemary and 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced. When garlic softens but does not color, add 1 1/2 cups white wine and bring to a boil. Then add 1/2 cup kalamata olives, and 3 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped. Simmer partially covered until chicken is cooked and broth is reduced and tastes savory.

I served the chicken with oven roasted potatoes.

And we finished the evening with the peach blueberry crisp and Reese’s Klondike Bars. A winning combination if I’ve ever had one.