Perfect Roast Chicken

There is nothing like the crisp, salty skin and juicy cooked interior of a perfectly roast chicken. 

I have played with different recipes over the years and always come back to this simple preparation.  I take a whole organic chicken and rinse it all over and dry it well with paper towels.  I like to season the inside with salt and pepper and insert a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme.  I brush the outside with a mixture of melted butter with dried herbs and salt and pepper generously.  I put the whole bird in a 375 oven for 20 minutes and brush again with more herbed butter.  Roast for another 20 minutes and then baste with the juices from the roasting pan and roast for another 20 minutes (twice).  I butter or baste every 20 minutes for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes to 30 minutes until the temperature reads 160 degrees in the thigh.  This turns out the perfect roast chicken for me.  I served the chicken with a mashed root vegetable mixture and some rainbow colored carrots.

Perfect Roast Chicken
Makes 4 servings

1 whole chicken (3-4 pounds)
3 tablespoons organic grass-fed butter
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (rubbed in the palm of your hand to crush and release the oils)
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter and stir in herbs until well combined.  Brush half of butter mixture over chicken set in a roasting pan.  Place in oven for 20 minutes.  Brush chicken with remaining butter mixture and roast again for 20 minutes.  Baste chicken with juices/butter mixture in bottom of pan and roast for another 20 minutes.  Baste again and roast again for another 20 minutes.  Check chicken with meat thermometer in thigh (it should register 160 degrees).  If not done, continue roasting and basting in 10 minute increments until done. 


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Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

I have had either a sinus condition or just the common cold for the past two days and so I really wanted some homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight.  My favorite recipe includes a whole chicken that was roasted in a hot oven before being added to the soup.  My favorite recipe is a combination of several different techniques from several recipes.  Roasting the chicken came from Cuisine at Home.  I added the step of sweating the celery, carrots, and leeks in butter on my own to intensify the flavor and to add much needed salt and pepper to the finished soup.  I think soups are all about building layers of flavors.  Stock in a box was then added to the seasoned vegetables and allowed to simmer briefly.  The roasted chicken was pulled apart and pieces were added to the simmering stock.  I cooked some fine egg noodles separately and added some to each hot bowl of soup (a Rachel Ray tip).  I have found this to be the best way to avoid having the noodles absorb too much of the chicken stock.  I added some fresh parsley off heat and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice just before serving.  Chicken noodle soup is the all-cure for the common cold as we have all been told and this recipe which includes roasted chicken instead of stringy boiled chicken is the winner for me.

Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup
Makes 13 servings (1 1/2 cups each)

1 (3-4 pound) whole chicken, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 tablespoon butter
2 1/2 cups celery, sliced
1 1/2 cups carrot, sliced
1 1/2 cups leeks, sliced into half-moons, rinsed thoroughly
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 cups chicken stock
Shredded chicken pieces from above plus juices from pan
8 ounces kluski noodles (fine egg noodles)
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Roast chicken on a rack in a roasting pan for 1 hour, or to an internal temperature of 165 degrees in the thigh.  Remove from the oven and let rest 15-20 minutes.  When cool enough to handle, remove meat from the bones in large pieces.

 In a large stock pot, melt butter.  Add celery, carrots and leeks and cook over medium low heat for a couple of minutes just to begin to soften the vegetables.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Add the stock and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer gently for 5 minutes.  Stir in chicken pieces and any juices from the roasting pan; simmer 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile cook noodles in a separate pot following package directions.  Drain, drizzle with a teaspoon or so of olive oil so that cooked noodles don't stick together.

Stir parsley into soup and squeeze the juice of half a lemon in.  Add desired amount of cooked egg noodles to each bowl upon serving and serve with lemon wedges.


Recipe adapted from Cuisine at Home

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Classic Fried Chicken

I have been craving comfort foods lately and this classic fried chicken recipe certainly fell in the comfort food category.  This was the best fried chicken I have ever made and I have been cooking for 38 plus years, so that says a lot right there.  It is a recipe that I will probably wait a whole year to make again since it is totally not the healthy kind of food I usually strive for.   Just for the record, it was worth every calorie and bit of fat consumed in the process.

Since I cooked it on my stovetop in a large skillet, I oven roasted our side dish of potatoes, carrots and onions.  I must admit that I did miss my mashed potatoes with my fried chicken.

Classic Fried Chicken
Makes 4-6 servings

1 3-pound chicken, cut into 10 pieces or 3 pounds of chicken pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 quart buttermilk
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, smashed
3 sprigs thyme
3 cups all purpose white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
vegetable oil for frying
vegetable shortening, for frying

Season the chicken generously with salt and black pepper; place on a baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.

Mix the buttermilk, hot sauce, bay leaf, garlic and thyme in a large resealable plastic bag.  Add the chicken, makng sure the pieces are submerged.  Seal and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours.

Mix the flour, baking powder, paprika, onion powder, cayenne, 3 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper in a resealable bag.

Fill a deep 12-inch heavy skillet halfway with equal parts vegetable oil and shortening.  Heat over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees.

Remove about half of the chicken pieces from the buttermilk mixture, letting the excess drip off.  Transfer to the bag of seasoned flour; seal and shake to thoroughly coat.  Remove from the bag, shake off any excess flour and transfer to a rack.

Carefully lower the coated chicken into the oil.  The temperature will drop to 300 degrees to 325 degrees; adjust the heat to maintain this temperature so the crust doesn't burn before the meat is cooked.  Fry, undisturbed, 2 to 3 minutes to set the crust, then carefully lift with tongs to check the browning; continue to fry, turning as needed, until golden brown and cooked through, 12 to 14 more minutes for smaller pieces and 14 to 16 more minutes for larger ones.  (A thermometer should register 160 degrees in the breasts and 170 degrees in the thighs and drumsticks.)

Remove the chicken to a clean rack to drain, sprinkle with salt and let rest a few minutes.  Repeat with the remaining chicken.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

From Food Network Online

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Stuffed Cabbage Roll

Tonight's dinner was a throw-back to food that we grew up on; stuffed cabbage. I had a green cabbage in my CSA basket and found a recipe using ground turkey as the meat component for the filling. I also made a simple tomato sauce to put in the bottom of the casserole as well as covering the stuffed cabbage rolls while baking in the oven.

I felt that this was an updated recipe from the bland rolls we grew up with. I would definitely make these again.



Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Adapted from a Mario Batali recipe

1 large head green cabbage
1 package ground turkey meat
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs, plus 1/2 cup, toasted
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
10 sage leaves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs
2 cups basic tomato sauce, recipe follows

Basic Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, chopped in 1/4-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 of a medium carrot, finely shredded
2 28-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Salt to taste

Start with the tomato sauce:

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and serve. This sauce holds 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large stockpot with 2 tablespoons of salt.

Remove whole leaves from the cabbage to yield 14 large leaves and plunge into the boiling water. Cook until soft enough to fold, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water and lay out on clean kitchen towels to continue cooling.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, place the ground turkey, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 cup parsley, red onion, sage, salt and pepper and eggs and mix well with hands. Lay out the cabbage leaves on a cutting board and place a medium-sized handful of the turkey mixture in the lower center of each leaf. Fold the lateral sides inward and roll from the base to form a closed pocket out of each stuffed leaf. In an ovenproof casserole large enough to hold all the cabbage rolls, place half the tomato sauce. Lay the cabbage rolls atop the sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce over and bake 1 hour. Remove and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2-cup bread crumbs, and 1/4 cup parsley.

Serve immediately.

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