I roasted a chicken.

For months now, I have been wanting to roast a chicken. Roasting is my favorite cooking method, next to stir frying and sauteing. I've long declared stir frying/sauteing as my unmatchable favorite. I relish the juggling act stir frying requires, and the positive stress it induces. So why roasting? It seems quite the departure from stir frying. And it is. But the answer, to me, is simple: the flavor payoff. I will eat many things roasted that I won't eat plain, such as peppers, onions, zucchini. Since chicken is my favorite protein in meat form, I decided I needed to do this. (plus you can do it with a hangover without spontaneously combusting.)

After A LOT of thinking and researching, I decided to start simple. I picked up a Gold 'n' Plump 3.5 pound chicken, gizzards and neck removed. I found the selection process confusing. Recipes for roast chickens call for.....a roasting chicken. These chickens are labeled frying chickens. My guess is because all the innards are already removed. Since I was under my own instruction, and it was my first time, I decided I probably shouldn't try to teach myself how to remove them. So, the Gold 'n' Plump fryer it was.

The cast. 

I am incapable of roasting anything without a bed of potatoes and carrots beneath it. 

 

My mom gave me some Rosemary awhile ago that I still had stored away. Thanks Ma!

  

I decided to make a fairly standard butter mixture of lemon, garlic and rosemary, to rub all over the chicken and under the skin. My goal was to use lots of bright lemon zest. Since I regrettably don't have a zester, I tried using the small holes on my massive cheese grater. It doesn't work that well, but I managed to get maybe 1/2 a teaspoon of zest.

I squeezed the juice of 2 lemons into 3/4 cup of softened butter, and added the rosemary, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder. I wanted to add more spices (parsley, paprika, cayenne, coriander..!) but I didn't. Something about a cart and a horse.

I smeared a bunch of butter all over and under the chicken skin. Raw skin is actually pretty tough and flexible, so don't be afraid to be assertive (read: not aggressive.) I shoved the 4 lemon halves into the cavity, which I will admit grossed me out. I must have washed my hands about 40 times during the preparation of this thing.

I ended up only using about half of my butter mixture. Since I touched the butter mixture with my raw chicken-ey hands, I tragically had to toss the leftover butter. DON'T DO THIS. DON'T BE LIKE ME. You can save that lemony rosemary garlicy butter for a number of deeply satisfying things

I know a lot of people like to truss, but I personally don't see the point. Sure I could try it some other time, but I felt no inclination towards doing so. So..I didn't! Instead, I put the whole thing into a 400 degree oven for one hour, and then I do not touch it or move it or do anything to it at all. After one hour, I turned the temp up to 425 for another 20 minutes. I can imagine doing this for a 3.5 pound chicken might cause some to gasp and guffaw. And then let me explain that I do not own a meat thermometer, and run away while jaws drop at such a travesty. And then, lookit.

It came out pretty much perfectly cooked.

I have no clue how to carve a chicken, so this is what I ended up with.

Assessment: Lots of lovely extract at the bottom for the potatoes and carrots. The chicken was succulent and moist throughout. The only regrets I had were not using MORE potato and carrot for bedding, and not going heavier on the spices. At the center was a clean, bright lemon flavor, though I could have used one more lemon. The rosemary was light, a faraway thought, and the garlic wasn't prominent. Nonetheless, the flavor was lovely, and I consider this first chicken roast of mine to be quite a success.

I'm in a Salad Rut.

I originally started this intending to do a blog titled "My Three Salads." I stumbled on this topic in my ideas queue a few days ago, when I realized that...I haven't exactly been consistent with My Three Salads lately. Or with eating any salads...at all.

Here's the thing: I love salads. I love vegetables. I will pick vegetables over fruits most the time. For me, my wrench is stuck firmly in my creative wheel. Anytime I make a recipe, it's usually a little time consuming. When I cook, it tends to be more road trip, less Sunday drive. Cooking for me is not just about "eating." It's conception. It's organization. Experience. It helps shape my cooking "voice", but it isn't exactly harmonious since I find myself eating plain or unhealthy things when I don't cook/have leftovers.

One promise I made to myself when 2013 drew near, was to make myself at least 3 salads for work every week. And I executed it quite well, to my surprise. And it usually went something like this:

This is a 50/50 Lettuce mix, with some Baby Spinach. I also chopped up some carrots and cucmbers.

  
Then I shove into some tupperware, and put salt, pepper and green onions on top. Other mainstays included: grape tomatoes, broccoli, and walnuts.

I haven't made a single salad in almost a month. I'm bored. That ain't cool. 

Can you see I need help? I beg of you, fellow food hobbyists, help me be uncomplicated. Asking for help is hard!

Almost nothing is off the table. My goal is to get a few ingredients that I can prep into 3-5 salads in around 10 minutes or less. Quick recipes are welcome too.  But be warned that I don't prefer to use any cream-of/canned tomato paste/powdered seasoning packet anythings. Broths, spices, frozen veggies (at least), rice, pastas, chicken are all things I normally have on hand at all times.

Save me from my unharmonized ways. Help me back to Salad Zen.

African Chicken Peanut Stew

I had this recipe in my recipe queue (along with the 100 others I'll never end up making) and decided to finally commit to making it. There are a few versions on the internets, and I chose the easier of the two to start with.

• 2-3 pounds chicken legs, thighs and/or wings
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil (I just use olive oil)
• 1 large yellow or white onion, sliced
• A 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 6-8 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
• 2-3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 quart chicken stock (I just made broth from Bullion cubes)
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup roasted peanuts
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

This recipe is definitely out of my comfort zone, and that's what drew me to it.  I didn't have sweet potatoes (I can't bring myself to like them), and used red instead. The recipe turned out AMAZING. Normally, I hate the word amazing because I feel it's overused. But this stuff truly was. Spectacular. One of the best things I've ever made. it went a little something like this.

Ginger is beautiful..on the inside.

I used white onion in this, but you could use yellow, and it'd work just as good. I dare say even red onion would be the best, and I will use it next time.

I also chopped up a whole bunch of garlic, and let it out to play with some ginger.

Ah. Potatoes.

I use bone in, skinless chicken thighs for this. The recipe calls for browning the chicken first. I'm not sure this is a necessary step, because it's going to get shredded up inside the stew. But I did it anyways, because cooking things and hearing them sizzle pleases me. I did not include a picture of this, because really...it's chicken cooking in a skillet. That's it. But just so you know...that's what I did! I also made chicken broth from bullion cubes during the browning process.

After removing the chicken, I did this thing. I saved half of my garlic/ginger combination for later, because I've learned that adding spices (especially salt) towards the end is more effective in producing flavor.

I'm convinced there are few things more fulfilling than a saute of onions and garlic. Ginger, salt and pepper went in there too.

I sweated them out a bit, then added potatoes for a few minutes to get them all nice and coated. Is this a potatoes idea of...fragrance? Eau De Aromatics? Ignore me.

After that, the stewing process begins. I added in the chicken broth, tomatoes, the chicken thighs (whole), peanut butter, coriander, and some cayenne. The recipe calls for roasted peanuts, but instead I cheated and just used extra crunchy peanut butter.

 Let's just say that the overall look of it at first was...not cute! I took a pic anyways, but I let it all mix together and cook down a few minutes before I took this one and decided to post it instead. Trust me, it was the right thing to do.

Simmer that stuff, and walk away. I go back and stir every 10 min or so, and don't even begin to taste test it until around the 30-45 minute mark. Every time I taste a soup/slow cook type-thing before that point, I mess it up by adding too many things. Soups/sauces/chili/stews take tiiiime. Slow your roll, baby.

After tasting it around the 45 min mark, I added some more black pepper and coriander. Then let it bubble awhile longer, before removing the chicken to shred it.

Here's the chicken, all ready for shredding!

Throw the shredded chicken back into the pot, only after eating some of it beforehand.

I then added: more salt, more cayenne and a dash more coriander. I just let it simmer maybe 10 more minutes to get all the flavors together, then I do this.

So maybe there's a cherry kool-aid ring stain on my island. SO WHAT.

It turned out thicker than I thought, so I added some jasmine rice. Good move, if I can say so myself. (But I forgot the cilantro.)

Overall: It turned out awesome. It has sweetness, so distinct you'd think there was coconut milk in it. The peanuts were not as abundant as I'd hoped, but they do pop a bit under your teeth. The coriander adds brightness to mellow some of that creamy sweet peanut butter, and the black and cayenne pepper give a healthy backbone of heat. The only drawback was that it could have been better with sweet potatoes (did I just SAY that?), or even russets, since red potatoes get creamy if they cook for a significant amount of time. It definitely had awesome ethnic flavor to it, and I think I could make people happy with this dish.

Regardless. Success!