Simplest Roast Chicken

I roasted a chicken! I know, amazing. And it turned out fabulously. It was juicy, but cooked all the way through, and the meat was practically falling off the bone. Here's a helpful tip: A roaster chicken is about twice as big as a fryer chicken, which is the size that this recipe calls for. Confusing, but true. This recipe is from How to Cook Everything, and it's actually part of recipe with more variations. I'm just going to tell you what I did, and if you want the other variations, tell me, and I'll know what to get you for Christmas.

Makes 4 servings
Time: About 1 hour

We justifiably associate roast chicken with elegance, but it can also be super weeknight food, cooked in just about an hour. This method works because the high heat provided by the heated skillet cooks the thighs faster than the breasts, which are exposed only to the heat of the oven. It gives you nice browning without drying out the breast meat, and it's easily varied. If at any point during the cooking the pan juices begin to smoke, just add a little water or wine (white or red, your choice) to the pan. This will reduce browning, however, so don't do it unless you must. I suggest serving the pan juices with the chicken (you can call it sauce naturel if you like).

• 1 whole chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, trimmed of excess fat
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon good smoked or sweet paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A few sprigs fresh tarragon, rosemary, or thyme (optional)
• 5 or 6 cloves garlic, peeled (optional)
• Chopped fresh herbs for garnish

[this is Katie here: before starting this process, I decided I wanted to brine the chicken. Bittman doesn't actually recommend brining smaller poultry, so a few hours before I rubbed it down pretty well with a combo of coarse salt (it has to be coarse), minced garlic, and some herb or another, I can't remember. Tarragon maybe. Then I put it back in the fridge on a plate. When I was ready to cook, I rinsed the chicken off really well and patted it dry. Now this is important: if you do this, do not salt the chicken when you put it in the oven. Wait until you cut it up to serve it and see if it needs salt then, or just put some salt on the table. I didn't think it needed any more salt.]

1. Heat the oven to 450°F. Five minutes after turning on the oven, put a cast-iron or other heavy ovenproof skillet on a rack set low in the oven. Rub the chicken with the olive oil mixed with the paprika, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and put the herb sprigs on it if you're using them. [KV: I didn't]

2. When both oven and pan are hot, 10 or 15 minutes later, carefully put the chicken, breast side up, in the hot skillet; if you're using garlic, scatter it around the bird. Roast, undisturbed, for 40 to 50 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh registers 155–165°F. 3. Tip the pan to let the juices from the bird's cavity flow into the pan (if they are red, cook for another 5 minutes). Transfer the bird to a platter and let it rest; if you like, pour the pan juices into a clear measuring cup, then pour or spoon off some of the fat. Reheat the juices if necessary, quarter the bird, garnish, and serve with the pan juices.

Results: 
The only problem, it turns out, is that neither of us like drumsticks. Well, actually, I thought they were delicious right out of the oven, but dark meat leftovers are pretty meh, at best. So I don't know how often I'll roast a chicken, unless it's for a crowd of more than two people, and some of those people are happy to pass on white meat in favor of dark.

Smoked Paprika Chicken

Ingredients:

* 4 skinless chicken breasts (about 200g each)
* 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Mix together the paprika, oil, garlic, basil, salt and cayenne.
2. Massage this mix into the chicken breasts and allow to stand for about 20 minutes.
3. Heat a pan over medium heat, and saute on both sides until chicken is golden brown and cooked through-about 8 minutes each side depending on the thickness of your fillets.
4. Add a little more oil if you need to, though there should be enough from the marinade.
5. Slice on the diagonal and serve.

Results:
Pretty, pretty, pretty good. Even Chris liked the chicken. It was a little spicy, but that could be because I only bought three breasts and I didn't adjust the spices.

I decided I wanted a sauce to go with this, so after I finished cooking the chicken I deglazed the pan with some chicken broth and got up all the bits the stuck to the bottom of the pan.* Then I put just a little bit of butter in the pan to thicken it up a bit, and returned the chicken to the pan after I sliced it. Turned out well, one might say I kicked it up a notch.

* These bits are a constant problem for me. They're supposed to be "brown bits," but inevitably by the time whatever I'm cooking is done, they've turned into black or charred bits. Untasty. If I know I'm going to be wanting the bits on the bottom for something, I've been trying to remember to heat the pan a little lower than what the recipe calls for, so this chicken I cooked one side on medium and the other on mid-low/low.

Tom Colicchio's Herb-Butter Turkey with gravy

The directions for the turkey that I made for Thanksgiving are really long, so instead of posting all of that here, I'll just give you a link to the site on Epicurious.com. Tom Colicchio, by the way, is the head judge on Top Chef, the bald guy.

This turkey was very juicy and delicious, if I do say so myself. We let it rest for, I thought, a good long while, and there was still juice pouring out of it when Suz (thanks, Suz!) carved it. I was having moments of panic as I searched every store in town for the herbs and only found then the day before thanksgiving at the last store I went to (well, obviously it was the last store). Also, I didn't make the gravy that accompanies the turkey recipe, I just followed Mom's recipe by making a gibblet stock and using that (sorry, Mom, I didn't cut up the gibblets and put those in). Suz and Aimee were KEY in gravy preparations, as by the time the turkey was done I was no longer "accepting incoming information" (my new favorite phrase), and so was having a hard time understanding the gravy directions, so a big hip hip hooray for them.*

Small alterations: I totally forgot to keep adding butter and broth in the last, long roasting part,* but it really didn't need it. Between the gibblet stock and the two cups of broth I actually put in, there was plenty of liquid. Also, I decided, upon much rumination, to put the turkey in for the first hour or so breast-side down, and then flip it (which was totally easier than I expected, since my turkey was only 10 pounds and I had these great silcon pot holders that Mom got me that have lots of traction and are juice-proof, so there was no chance to burn myself).

The one thing I wasn't trilled with was the skin didn't get nice and crispy as it does when you baste it (since I only basted it twice). If I had kept track of that and been more careful with the basting, that might have helped.*

I'm labeling this post "chicken" because I really don't see why you couldn't roast a chicken this same way, just altering the amounts and the cooking time.


*See story of Thanksgiving Stress in the above post for why all thoughts of keeping track of cooking flew out of my head once I got the bird in the oven.

Chicken and Artichoke Stew

serves 8. (I only made enough for 4 servings)

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
2 Tbls. butter
2 large onions, finely chopped
1/2 c. all purpose flour
3 1/2 c. chicken broth
6 med. carrots, cut into rounds
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 cans (14 ounces each) artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed
sliced lengthwise.
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. generously season chicken with salt and pepper. heat 1 tablespoon butter in dutch oven (or 5 quart stockpot) over medium-high heat. brown half the chicken on both sides, about 5 minutes. transfer to a plate. repeat with remaining butter and chicken. set aside to cool.

2. reduce heat to medium. add 1/4 cup water; scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. add onions; cook until golden, about 5 min. stir in flour; cook 1 more minute.

3. add broth and 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil. add carrots, thyme, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. simmer until carrots are almost tender, about 5 min.

4. cut chicken into 1/2 in. pieces and return to pot; cover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened, 10 to 15 min. add artichokes; cook until warmed through, about 1 min. stir in parsley. serve over rice if desired. (I used brown rice)

RESULTS
Today was so windy and cold that I would not have been surprised to see a little Piglet blown by, so it seemed like a good stew day. Luckily, though the electricity had been out all morning, it came on around 4 just in time for cooking. Now, this recipe, for me personally, was not a keeper. It was sort of bland, but it did make the house smell delicious with the onions sauteing in the butter (is there a better smell? I think not) and it was filling and warming. I think the final product was improved by a sprinkle of balsamic right on top (off the heat, of course), it lifted the whole thing from sort of a gray goop and gave it a little more color and brightness. I think lemon would have been good too. BUT, the main reason I posted this is that I cooked the chicken to perfection! I think I'm really getting the hang of chicken, at least if it's browned first and then braised or stewed. I can't guarantee more than that, but baby steps.

In other news, Bethie introduced me to pandora.com yesterday. It's pretty neat, I haven't really had a chance to get into it (re: loss of electricity), but I like the idea. You can create your own radio station by typing in a band you like, and then the computer builds a station by matching that band with other bands with similar qualities. Anyway, it's neat.

Highlights for this coming week include:

• season finale of the Office
• making foccaccia pizza tomorrow for dinner
• an outdoors session of my 4-session watercolor class (barring more of this endless rain) at Oliver Winery (Mom and Beth, I took you both there
  
• Making it through a 40-hour work week without having to call in sick for the first time in a while, God willing
• reading to about a hundred school children on Wednesday for work
  

Happy mother's day Mom and Kathy!