2 posts tagged “chicken”

This is too simple for words, and it’s delicious. Nothing should stop you from doing this, and be brave--invite some of your friends over, you’ll have leftovers. If you can, splurge a bit, and get yourself a free-range chicken or organic one. Reject the rest. And don’t stop there, treat yourself to some good red or white wine. I like white with this one.

Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

1  roasting chicken

4 lemons

4 sprigs of thyme

4 garlic cloves

2 tbsp of butter

2 carrots, coarsely chopped

2 onions, coarsely chopped

2 celery, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp extra-virgin oil

Kosher salt

pepper

Directions: Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove giblets, wash chicken thoroughly and pat dry. Place chicken in a large roasting pan. Rub the chicken with butter, and season the outside and inside with salt and pepper.  Stuff the chicken with 2 sliced or wedged lemons, thyme and 2 garlic. I might try adding half an onion next time.  Truss the chicken. I’m not going to explain it, it’s too complicated. I will add a link to my website to help you out. Mix the carrots, onions, celery and chopped garlic with a bit of oil. Scatter them and the lemons around the chicken. Roast for 30 minutes. Once you reach that point, increase the oven temperature to 450F, and cook for another 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven, wrap it with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving. See “Tip and Hints” on how to check for doneness and how to make gravy.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

2 lb Yukon potatoes

½ cup milk

2 tbsp cold unsalted butter

salt and pepper

Directions: Peel the potatoes and cut into wedges. Place them in a large pot and add enough cold water, add salt, and bring it to boil over high heat. Let the potatoes cook for about 15 minutes, or until they are easily pierced with a skewer. Drain well.Return the potatoes to the pan and dry them out, then remove from heat and mash until smooth with a wooden spoon. In a small pot, combine milk and butter and warm it up, make sure you keep your eye on it—hot not boil. Set aside. Once the potatoes are done, pour the milk slowly, and continue to mash. Remember: don’t over work the potatoes. When the mixture is creamy and fluffy, season with salt and pepper.  This tastes great with chicken.

Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Garlic

Only the French could come up with throwing away a bottle of wine to a chicken stew! This is truly French peasant cooking that goes back 2000 years. At the time of Julius Ceaser, the dish was made with rooster and finished off with blood. Yuck! Substitute the rooster with chicken, and blood with flour, and you got something great. 

This is a tasty, and super rich, but not a too fatty dish--you do have to add a bit of bacon and butter, but I wouldn't call it fatty. I would double up the ingredients and freeze the extra--you are going want more by end of the week. 

There are lots of coq au vin recipes out there. I like Anthony Bourdain's version the best from "Les Halles Cookbook". It's excellent, he is a genius. 

This dish serves four. I served this with roasted herb potatoes.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, chopped into 6 or 8 pieces

1 bottle of red wine

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1 carrot, coarsely chopped

1 celery rib, coarsely chopped

4 whole cloves

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

1 bouquet garni

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

100 g bacon cut into cubes

225 g white button mushrooms, stems removed and quartered

12 pearl onions, peeled

pinch of sugar

salt and pepper

Directions: In a large bowl, marinade the trimmed (meaning guts, wing tips, and neck bone removed) and cut chicken in red wine, onions, carrots, celery, cloves, peppercorns, and bouquet garni. Saran wrap the bowl and refrigerate overnight. By the way, you can skip the marinade if time is not on your side.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry. Strain the marinade to separate the vegetables and bouquet garni from the wine.  Heat a large heavy pot with olive oil until sizzling. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and sear them in batches (don't want to overcrowd). Turn the chicken with the tongs to evenly brown (really it's honey colour you're after) the skin. Once they are brown, remove and set aside in a bowl. Add the reserved vegetables to medium-high heat and cook until they are soft and golden brown. Stir occasionally. This should take no longer than 10 minutes. 

Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and mix well so that the vegetables are coated. Stir in the strained marinade. Return the chicken to the pot along with the bouquet garni. Bring to boil, turn the heat down, and simmer for an hour.

Cook the bacon over medium heat in a sauté pan until they are golden. Remove bacon from the pan and drain it on paper towels, making sure you leave behind the fat in the pan. Add the chopped mushrooms and sauté them in the bacon fat until golden brown. Set aside when they are done.

In a large pot, add butter, the peeled onions, pinch of salt and sugar, and water halfway to the onions. Cover the pot with parchment paper trimmed to the same size of the pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook until the water has evaporated. Remove the paper and let cook until the onions are golden brown. 

Check the chicken to see how tender it is. It should be soft, but not falling off the bones. Once the hour is up, lift the chicken and into a bowl or platter and cover with tin foil.

Strain the cooking liquid (again) into the reduced wine. Add only the bacon, mushrooms and pearl onions. Taste, and add salt and pepper. Once it is reduced, add 1 tbsp of butter to finish off the sauce. 

Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve with the potatoes. 

Coq au Vin