Roast Chicken a Different Way

       

Everyone probably knows how to roast a chicken and you probably have your own way of doing it.  This recipe roasts the bird in a way I have never tried before.  The instructions are from Alexandra's Kitchen.  It produced a perfectly cooked bird, crisp on the outside and juicy and moist on the inside and took less time than roasting it the traditional way.  This will be my go-to method from now on.  I didn't have a container large enough for the chicken so I put it in a cake pan and covered it with foil and then popped it into the fridge.  I used my cast iron skillet (that was my grandmother's) to roast it.  My bird was a little bigger than four pounds so I roasted it a bit longer, until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees.

 

One whole chicken, 3 to 4 lbs.

kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon of butter, optional

squeeze of lemon, optional

 

A day before you plan on roasting the chicken place it in a large bowl or pot. Season all over with kosher salt using about 1 teaspoon for every pound of meat. Cover the bowl or pan and put in fridge. Remove bowl from fridge an hour before you plan on roasting the chicken.

 

Preheat the oven to 475°F.   Preheat an oven safe skillet over medium heat for about five minutes. Pat the chicken dry.  Season with pepper if desired. Set it breast side up in the pan.  

 

Place the chicken in the pan in the center of the oven, bake for 25 minutes. Turn the bird over. Roast for another 10 minutes. Flip back over to re-crisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes. It should register about 165ºF on your thermometer.

 Remove the chicken from the oven and set it on a plate. Add a tablespoon or two of water to the hot pan and any juices that have accumulated on the plate. Scrape up any browned bits. Add a tablespoon of butter to the pan. Add a squeeze of lemon if you wish.

 

 

  

 

When a wealthy local benefactor is slain on the farm, Monica has to figure out who wanted to cash in on the killing . . .

As Sassamanash Farms hunkers down for the long winter, Monica agrees to let the local animal shelter host their Christmas-themed fundraiser there. The draw of the event—a chance to have your pet’s picture taken with Santa—brings in animal lovers from far and wide. But when the crackling fire dies down and the festive holiday props are all carted away, Monica discovers a very un-jolly sight next to the barn—the dead body of one of the shelter’s biggest donors. With the farm’s good name in jeopardy, Monica goes to work to root out the killer.

By all accounts the victim was a charming and generous supporter of the shelter, but Monica discovers that he was loathed by those who knew him for being tight-fisted and unscrupulous. Suspecting money might be the motive, she turns her sights on his stylish wife and her lavish lifestyle, along with the manager of the struggling shelter, who stood to collect a hefty bequest from his will. But as Monica closes in on one final clue, the culprit closes in on her. Caught unawares, she’ll have to survive the brutal winter weather, as well as a cold-blooded killer . . . 

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Roast Chicken with Jam and Berbere Spice #recipe by @Leslie Karst

I love roasting a chicken for a dinner party, as it’s easy to make, and nothing beats the sight, smell, and taste of a whole roast chicken, crispy outside and tender and juicy inside. So for a recent get-together of some friends, that’s what I decided to make. After perusing the door of my refrigerator—the repository of about fifteen different kinds of jams and jellies I’ve been gifted by various folks—I settled on some persimmon jam as the basis for the glaze for my chicken.

And when I looked in my spice drawer for inspiration, my eyes were drawn to a jar of berbere: a traditional Ethiopian blend of chiles, garlic, fenugreek, and other spices such as coriander, cumin, allspice, and cinnamon. With the addition of some butter and fresh herbs, it seemed like the perfect combination for my bird.

(Feel free to substitute peach or apricot jam for the persimmon, and if you can’t find berbere spice, paprika would work well, instead.)

Roast Chicken with Jam and Berbere Spice

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons persimmon jam

1 teaspoon berbere spice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon (or 1 teaspoon dried)

salt and black pepper

1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as canola

1 roasting chicken

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine the butter, jam, and berbere spice, then stir in the chopped tarragon.

Pour the oil in a large Dutch oven, and use a paper towel to spread it over the bottom and sides (to keep the chicken from sticking as it cooks).

Smear the butter/jam mixture all over the chicken and place it in the pot, then season with salt and pepper.

Roast, covered, for about an hour, basting every twenty minutes or so. (I roasted two birds for my dinner party, doubling the ingredients above.)

When the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F (insert an insta-read thermometer into the thigh, making sure it doesn’t touch the bone), take the lid off to allow the bird to brown for five or ten minutes more.

Once it’s cooked, set the chicken on a cutting board, covered with foil, to let it rest for about ten minutes.

Carve the chicken as you desire, then drizzle with the juices remaining in the pan. (You can also pour these juices into a pitcher to set on the table for folks to drizzle on themselves.) Yum!

🐓 🌿 🍑

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari Mysteries, a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. 

 

An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

Leslie’s website
Leslie also blogs with Chicks on the Case
Leslie on Facebook
Leslie on Twitter
Leslie on Instagram

Praise for Leslie's most recent Sally Solari mystery, the Lefty Award-nominated MURDER FROM SCRATCH:

“Karst seasons her writing with an accurate insider’s view of restaurant operation, as well as a tenderness in the way she treats family, death and Sally’s reactions to Evelyn’s blindness.”

Ellery Queen Magazine (featured pick)

All four Sally Solari Mysteries are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.

 

Dying for a Taste, A Measure of Murder, and Murder from Scratch are also available as AUDIOBOOKS from Audible!

Please Welcome Our Guest Harper Kincaid! & #GIVEAWAY

Please welcome our guest today--Harper Kincaid.  Harper is sharing a wonderful recipe for roast chicken--you'll love the name she's given it and why!  She is also giving away two hardcover copies of her latest book To Kill a Mocking Girl.

 

See below: To Kill a Mocking Girl Hardcover Giveaway from  

Harper Kincaid!

  Remember at the beginning of quarantine when we were all stuck at home, and a bunch of people decided this was the perfect time to try out all those delicious, intricate, inspired-by-IKEA-assembly instructions recipes?

They took photos. They started vlogs on YouTube. They bombarded us with their live demos via Insta or Facebook stories.

Well, this post isn’t for them. 

I’m here for the rest of you, the ones who adore good food, appreciate quality ingredients, but would rather read a juicy cozy than toil over a hot stove in July. On that note, allow me to introduce myself: my name is Harper Kincaid, and while I’ve been an author for a while, To Kill a Mocking Girl is my debut cozy – and I am tickled hot pink to be here on this blog, with such illustrious company.

In TKAMG, books are Quinn Caine’s obsession, but food is a close second. And one of the recipes I’ve included is something I conjured many years ago, when I was a young-ish bride and looking to learn how to cook. I always have music playing in the background, so when the song, Scarborough Fair came on the radio, I had a Eureka moment: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme would make a great chicken rub. Alas, this recipe was born…

Simon & Garfunkel Roast Chicken

1            organic chicken, cut into pieces OR

4-6       chicken quarters (legs & thighs attached, skin on)

2          tablespoons fresh parsley

2          tablespoons dried sage

2          tablespoons fresh ground rosemary

2          tablespoons dried thyme

            olive oil spray

            salt and pepper to taste

6          pats unsalted butter

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a flat cooking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with olive oil spray. Pat down chicken until dry and place on cooking sheet or baking dish.

Take each pat of butter and rub into the skin of each piece (each gets its own pat of butter).

Now, most fresh rosemary comes in sprigs. I suggest you take the leaves off the stems and grind them until fine. I use a coffee grinder, but you can be fancy and go old school with a mortar and pestle.

Mix fresh ground rosemary with your thyme, parsley and sage, salt and pepper. Make sure you dice the parsley first. Now sprinkle your food glitter all over those awaiting chickens-or over whole chicken! Cook in the oven until the skins turn golden brown and bubbly and the juices run clear when poked with a fork. See? Easy and delicious!

Okay, okay, so these are just with the legs. That’s the only photo I had!

Here’s one whole – yum, right?

Author Bio

Born in California and raised in South Florida, Harper Kincaid has moved around like a nomad with a bounty on her head ever since.

She has earned a master’s degree in Gender History and another in Clinical/Macro Social Work. She has published with Samhain Publishing (now defunct), Entangled Publishing, Crooked Lane Press, Throat Punch Media, and Medium. Her latest book is the acclaimed mystery, To Kill a Mocking Girl. When not writing, Harper adores watching documentaries, painting & drawing, listening to lo-fi on vinyl, and reading while it’s raining.

This is where she’d like to talk/brag about her family, but has been forbidden to do so-under the threat of a court order (as if) and prolonged dirty looks only teenage girls could deliver. Her husband is staying out of it. The dog just want to chew on a dirty sock.

Find her on social media!

Facebook  https://www.Facebook.com/AuthorHarperKincaid

Twitter https://www.Twitter.com/HarperKincaid

Instagram https://www.Instagram.com/CharmingWhenTipsy

Website  https://www.HarperKincaid.com

Pinterest  https://www.Pinterest.com/HarperKincaid

BookBub https://www.BookBub.com/HarperKincaid

 Buy To Kill a Mocking Girl through:

Want an autographed copy? Call Bards Alley Bookshop at (571) 459-2653 and order one over the phone. Let them know if you just want it signed or personalized J

Libro FM (audio) https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781662001406-to-kill-a-mocking-girl

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Mocking-Girl-Bookbinding-Mystery/dp/164385304X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=to+kill+a+mocking+girl+harper+kincaid&qid=1594934114&sr=8-1

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-kill-a-mocking-girl-harper-kincaid/1133013389?ean=9781643853048

Bookshop 

https://bookshop.org/books/to-kill-a-mocking-girl-a-bookbinding-mystery/9781643853048

Harper Kincaid is giving away two hardcover copies of To Kill A Mockingbird!

Leave a comment below to be entered to win!

 

Stretching One Chicken Three Ways #Recipe @PegCochran

This is a difficult time for our country and the world.  As we all try to be responsible and keep our social distance, it means many of us are trying to  stock up a bit to limit future grocery trips.  I was floored when we went to our local Meijer (a *gigantic* grocery store) to find the yards and yards-long poultry case...empty...except for one lone roasting chicken.  Everyone was passing it by so I decided to snag it.  Here she is.  Isn't she a beauty?

I turned it into a delicious Sunday dinner by spatchcocking (butterflying) it and roasting.  The benefit of doing that is that it cooks faster--approximately 50 minutes--and also cooks more evenly.  And it's easy to do.  Cut along either side of the back bone and remove it.  Open the chicken up and lay it skin side up on your cutting board.  Using the palm of your hand. press down on it and flatten it out.

Here is the backbone that I removed.

And here is the flattened chicken ready for the oven.

I rubbed it with olive oil, and sprinkled it with salt and pepper and some herbs then scattered some cut-up sweet potato around it  and roasted it in a 425 degree oven for about 50 minutes. There were enough juices to make some gravy because hubby likes his white meat with gravy on it.  I'm a dark meat girl myself!

Ta da!

 Delicious dinner number one!

Since there are only two of us, I had plenty of chicken leftover.  In the interests of stretching our food supply as much as possible, the next night I turned it into that great diner favorite--chicken and gravy on toast (yes, it's usually turkey but this is a close cousin.)


Shred chicken. 

Heat leftover gravy.  I added a bit of cream to it to stretch it.

Place shredded chicken on toasted bread and cover with gravy.

There is still a little bit of chicken left so today I made chicken salad for lunch! 

Do you have any favorite food stretching tips?

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Roast Chicken for Stressful Times @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I have a new favorite cookbook with a new favorite recipe in it. The book is called Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman and it has the best chicken recipe ever right on the cover. Her theory is that having company should not be stressful--don't you love that?

I asked for this cookbook for my birthday in January and I have made the chicken five times since then. It’s a wonderful company dinner because it’s so easy and yet comes out so beautifully. 

But it’s also a recipe for anxious times and surely we are in them now! Please know that our thoughts and hearts are with every one of you right now--we'll get through this by working together...

Ingredients

One whole chicken (I buy organic chickens because the quality really matters)

One and a half tablespoons fennel seeds

1 to 2 heads of fresh garlic

Six to 8 small tomatoes

2 tablespoons butter

A drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper

A handful of fresh oregano

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

In Alison's instructions, she recommends placing the cooked chicken on slices of good bread after everything is cooked, and then drizzling with the pan juices. I am sure this would be delicious, but I ended up using a bunch of fresh spinach underneath the chicken instead. It’s beautiful and gives you a green vegetable without going to any extra trouble. Last week I also served it with mashed potatoes--serious comfort food!

Place the chicken in a baking dish. Stuff the cavity with the oregano. Drizzle olive oil on the chicken, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Mash the fennel seeds either in a mortar and pestle or grind them up with a spice grinder. Tap the seeds all over the top of the chicken. 

Around the edge of the chicken, arrange the garlic cloves and the tomatoes. The garlic cloves should be separated but you don’t need to peel them. Cut the butter into cubes and sprinkle this around the dish.

Bake in a 325 oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It is done when the skin is crispy and a thermometer measures 180°. Drizzle the 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar over top and let the chicken sit for 10 minutes or so.You can serve the chicken hot--arrange it on a platter of spinach with the tomatoes and garlic. Spoon the juices over the chicken and the vegetables. This also can be made before your company arrives and served at room temperature. Honestly it’s delicious and amazing!

Please take care and stay safe!!

Only four months until the next book in the Key West food critic mystery series will arrive in bookstores everywhere! THE KEY LIME CRIME (July 2020) is available for pre-order now!

You can order it at an independent bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and anywhere books are sold!

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series, featuring fiesty food critic Hayley Snow. Number 9, A DEADLY FEAST, is in stores and online everywhere. THE KEY LIME CRIME will be published next summer. Early reviews are rolling in...