Basic Skills: How to Roast a Chicken

This past week I spent my time hanging out with little old ladies. These women were eager to share stories of their past, their thoughts on the changes that come with the present, and their opinion on what the future should hold.

They also shared their recipes. 

Which got me thinking.... What should everyone know how to cook? What foods stand the test of time?

I know that "sugar cakes" sure aren't one of them. I tried this old recipe from Grandma Rose (my husband's great grandma). It failed miserably. Mind you I doubled the amount of orange juice - by accident - and used fat-free sour cream - on purpose. They turned out more like sweet biscuits, not at all like the giant sugar cookies my mother-in-law remembered....

So. 

Roast a chicken. It's something that everyone can do. And should do. 

Martha's got her take on it. And Thomas Keller even made a video to show you his way.

But really people. It's ridiculously simple.

You need a chicken,

An a oven-safe pan with sides (cast iron skillet, dutch oven, glass 9x13). A lemon, an onion, and a few cloves of garlic.

Clean out the inside of the chicken. There's usually giblets, liver, heart, or other odd internal organs loosely packed in there. Occasionally some plastic bag. Get rid of that. If you see any feathers still left, pick those off too.

Take the lemon and poke it with a fork. All over. Cut the onion in half (or quarters if your chicken is small and your onion is big).

Put the lemon, half of the onion, and a few cloves of garlic inside the chicken.

Place the chicken, breast side up, into the pan. The back is flat and the breast goes up like a little hill. The chicken should be flat on it's back. If you can rock the chicken, flip it over.

Tuck the wing tips under the bird's back.

Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper all over the bird. 

Chunk up the other onion half, add some carrots, toss them all in olive oil too. Place them around the chicken. 

Tie the chicken's legs together with twine.

Put in a 400 degree oven for about an hour and a half. Use a thermometer to make sure the breast temperature is 175 and the thigh temperature is 185. Allow the bird to rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes before cutting. 

Roast Chicken

Serves 4-6

1 whole chicken (5-6 pounds)

1 lemon

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

olive oil

Salt & pepper

Carrots

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. While the oven is preheating, set the chicken on the counter and allow to come to room temperature. 

Open the chicken and remove all the internal organs and other things from the bird's cavity. 

Poke the lemon all over with a fork. Chop the onion in half. Shove the lemon, half (or a quarter, whatever fits) of the onion, and the garlic cloves inside the bird.

Rub the skin of the bird with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tuck the wings under the back of the bird. Tie the legs together with oven-safe twine (you can skip this step if you want - not necessary).

Toss the left over onion chunks with the carrots in a couple tbsps of olive oil. Place around the chicken. 

Cook the bird, uncovered, for an hour and a half. The breast should reach 175 degrees and the thigh should reach 185. Buy a thermometer if you don't have one. It's a useful tool to have.

Let the bird rest for 10-15 minutes once it's out of the oven. This lets all the juices cool a bit so they stay in the meat. 

Slice and serve!

Leftovers can be used for chicken salad, sandwiches, soup, etc.

Update from South Jersey

I found my new favorite house. It happens to belong to a lovely woman named Helen who was born and raised there. She was introduced to me by my Mother-In-Law (Helen's her cousin), and then we managed to get ourselves invited over after lunch. I hear tell that there's a spiral staircase somewhere in the house. Perhaps I'll get myself invited back over to find it. 

Helen was thrilled that I was interested in her old family recipes. She let me photograph some. The ones she thought were oldest. I'll be making them soon, and I'll let you all know how they turn out. For now, I give you Delaware Cry Babies and Butter Balls. I'm going to hold on to the Boiled Cookies one for a bit. I want to bake them first and be sure it's not a joke.

Make at your own peril...

Miss (or Mrs) Piggy

This past Saturday we went to Cape May, New Jersey. It's a really quaint old town that loves its gingerbread houses. 

Like this one:

Or this one (my personal favorite):

Cape May also has a ridiculously great restaurant called the Blue Pig Tavern. It's super classy, and belongs more (I think) in the South than in Jersey, but I'm definitely not complaining.

Even the napkins have classy pigs on them.

They give you good-looking placemats, which soon become covered with plates laden with delicious egg salad sandwiches and french fries.

The beverage menu is amazing. I chose a drink called the Miss Piggy, under the "Little Piggies" header. It's strawberries, muddled with mint, added to lime juice and ginger ale. It's very refreshing, but it just wasn't pink enough to suit me. The pink-ness factor needed a boost. 

Enter - my version. 

I subbed the strawberries for raspberries! So much pinker. So much better.

Muddle a handful of berries in a glass with 2-3 leaves of mint.

I used a plastic ice cream scooper for a muddler. It worked remarkably well.

Then add the juice of 1/2 a lime.

Next up, ice and ginger ale. And a few unsmooshed berries for effect.

Serve with a bouquet of bright yellow flowers. BRIGHT YELLOW. Sorry for the over exposure...

And if you get a little more mature (Sadie Sadie, Married Lady!!), toss in a shot of rum.

The Mrs. Piggy tastes twice as nice!

Miss (or Mrs) Piggy

Adapted from The Blue Pig Tavern

1 handful fresh raspberries (plus 3-4 for garnish)

2-3 leaves fresh mint

Juice of 1/2 a lime

1 can ginger ale

Ice

Rum - to make it a Mrs. Piggy!

Put the raspberries in the bottom of a pint glass with the mint. Muddle together until smooshed completely.

Add in the lime juice, (rum), ice, and ginger ale until nearly full. Garnish with uncrushed fresh berries. 

Enjoy!

Bonus: Mango Empanadas

I didn't make a whole batch of chicken filling. But I made a whole batch of pastry wrappers. So I made dessert. 

And you might want to too!

Mango Empanadas

Makes 2 empanadas

2 balls leftover empanada dough
1 mango, diced

1/4 c. sweetened flaked coconut

1/3 tsp vanilla

sprinkle of cinnamon

1/2 tbsp flour

In a small bowl, combine mango, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, and flour.

Take your leftover empanada dough and press out into circles. Put half of the mango mixture on each circle.

In your large skillet, heat 1" of oil until shimmering. Carefully place empanadas in the oil and cook till browned on both sides.

Once empanadas are done, place on a paper towel on an oven-safe plate and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Serve with vanilla ice cream. And maybe some chocolate sauce if it hadn't been eaten up the night before...

Empanadas

I flew out to Philadelphia today. To spend a week in southern New Jersey with the in-laws.

And since I just got an iPhone, I'll probably be snapping photos the entire time. We'll see if I can figure out how to post any here without calling my computer-genius brother-in-law...

 Oh! And I actually like my in-laws. Strange, I know. 

I think part of it has to do with the fact that besides my MIL, it's all boys. So they have no idea what to do with me. And then I do things like helping to fix something broken with power tools. Which blows all perceived pretty-pretty-princess notions away.

I like keeping them on their toes. It's more fun that way.

Speaking of on one's toes - I'm always on tip-toe when hot oil is involved.

I seriously go up, nearly on point, and arch my back so that my tummy is as far away from the pan as possible when I drop things in to fry them. 

It's pretty funny to see. 

That's what I looked like making these empanadas. 

Start off with the dough - masa harina (corn meal), flour, baking powder, salt, shortening. In a bowl.

Work it until it looks like coarse sand.

Then add cold water, quickly form it into a ball, and divide it into 12 equal little balls.

Brown off the chicken in a large skillet.

Put it in a bowl and add sofrito, smoked paprika, and mexican oregano.

Then mix in the cheese.... if you take a cheese nibble, I won't tell anyone.

Now - press out your dough balls and add a little filling.

Fold over the dough, and crimp with your fingers or a fork to seal. You need to have them super sealed - that way the filling doesn't fall out in the hot oil. Super important.

Now, into the shimmering oil they go! Stand on your tip-toes! And always flip away from you. If you flip towards you, you might have a splash incident. And wind up with a not-so-nifty burn.

Once the empanadas are finished cooking, put them on a plate and keep them warm in a 200 degree oven. It totally works. And I think it helps de-grease them slightly too. 

Serve with avocado. And cheese. 'Cause there's nothing wrong with a little more queso.

Empanadas

Makes 12 empanadas

Adapted from Mexican magazine, Better Homes & Gardens

1 c. masa harina (corn meal)

1 c. flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. shortening

2/3 c. ice water

1 lb ground chicken (or turkey)

1/2 c. fresh sofrito

1 tsp mexican oregano

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 c. oaxaca or other mexican melting cheese (or mozzarella, if desperate)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix masa harina, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add in shortening, and work in with pastry blender or fingers until it resembles coarse sand. Pour water (not ice) into the mix and swiftly form a large ball. 

Divide the ball into 12 equal pieces. Cover pieces lightly with plastic wrap or a damp towel to keep from drying out.

In a large skillet, brown the ground chicken. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out your skillet. In the bowl with the chicken, add sofrito, paprika, oregano, and cheese. Mix.

Using a tortilla press or a rolling pin, make the dough balls into 6" circles. You can do this one at a time, but if you do multiple, put them between layers of wax paper to prevent sticking. Also - remember to wax paper your tortilla press, if using. 

Place about a 1/3 c. of the chicken filling mixture off to one side of the circle. Fold the other half over, and crimp edges with your fingers or a fork. Set on waxed paper when finished.

In your large skillet, heat 1" of oil until shimmering. Carefully place empanadas in the oil and cook till browned on both sides.

Once empanadas are done, place on a paper towel on an oven-safe plate and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Garnish with avocado, salsa, cheese, cilantro - whatever you'd like.

Paella with Chicken and Chorizo

I promised you good things. 

I don't break promises!

Trust me. This is a very, very good thing.

Mr. S and I have made many a paella. He got me a paella set for Christmas a year or two ago. It came with a pan, a jar of safron, special rice, a jar of sofrito, and a bottle of Spanish red wine. Unfortunately, the initial shipment got jostled too much and the sofrito jar broke and spilled everywhere! The pan had gotten the worst of it, and had begun to rust in spots.

After I joyfully opened my gift, discovered the mess and the rusted pan, and Mr. S nearly exploded, we called the company and they shipped us a new kit. 

Meanwhile, I got out my steel wool. And got rid of the rust. 

Now we have TWO paella pans!! The more the merrier. (And we were definitely merrier after the second bottle of wine arrived too. Woot!)

So here's the thing - Paella really isn't hard. It just takes special stuff. Once you get that stuff, you're on your way to some wonderful meals. 

Start off with the chicken. Coat it in paprika (both regular and smoked if you've got it) and oregano.

Then slice up the chorizo or salami and fry it up. It will release a lot of oil. That's good, since we're not going to be adding any....

Once the cured meat is browned, remove it from the pan and put the chicken in. Skin side down first. Brown it nicely on both sides.

Remove the chicken and add in the sofrito. That's right. That delicious veggie sauce you made. Add a whole cup!

And toss in some large chunks of red pepper too. Color and texture right there.

In a small pot, get your chicken stock warmed up. Add in the safron threads.

Once the sofrito's cooked down a bit, add the rice to the paella pan. 

Toss it around to coat it. 

Then add the chicken stock/safron. It probably won't all fit. That's ok. You can add more later.

Let the rice cook for 10 minutes - and NO STIRRING!!

After 10 minutes, nestle the chicken down in the rice, add the chorizo back in and cover with the rest of the chicken stock. Allow that to cook on medium heat for about 10-15 more minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. 

Remove from the heat and add peas, olives, and chopped cilantro. 

Serve on a patio table, with red wine and a happy husband.

Paella with Chicken and Chorizo

Serves 2-3

Adapted from Tyler Florence

2 chicken leg quarters

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp oregano

1 Spanish chorizo sausage (or Italian salami if you can't find chorizo)

1 cup sofrito

1 red bell pepper

2 c. chicken stock

1/2 tsp safron threads (one large pinch)

1 c. paella rice

5-6 black and green olives, quartered

1/4 c. frozen peas, thawed

chopped cilantro for garnish

Special equipment: 10" paella pan

Take the chicken leg quarters and remove any extra rib bones so that you are left with just the thigh and the leg. Leave the skin on. Sprinkle with paprikas and oregano and rub in to coat. 

Bring your chicken stock to a boil in a small pot.

Put your paella pan on medium-low heat. Slice the chorizo or salami into 1/4" thick rounds. Place in pan and let brown. Remove chorizo from pan, but retain oil.

Place chicken, skin side down into the pan and allow to brown on both sides. Remove from pan.

Pour the sofrito into the paella pan. Raise the heat to medium high. Chop the red pepper into bite sized pieces (removing seeds and pith) and put in pan with sofrito. Allow to cook down for at least 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the safron into the chicken stock while the sofrito and peppers are cooking.

Gently pour the rice into the paella pan, and toss it to coat the grains. Pour the chicken stock/safron mixture into the pan (it might not all fit, that's ok) and allow to cook for 10 minutes. No stirring!!

After 10 minutes, nestle the chicken quarters and chorizo back down in the pan. Add the rest of the broth. Allow to cook on medium heat for another 10-15 minutes. If you smell burning, the rice is done! Burning is just part of paella. It's a flavor you want!

Remove the paella from the heat and top with peas, olives, and cilantro. Allow it to rest 5 minutes before you serve it.