Mar 15

Roasted Chicken (Herbs de Provence), Stuffed with Fresh Rosemary

Carved Roasted Chicken

Carved Roasted Chicken on the Cutting Board

Roasted Chicken Rub

Herbs de Provence with Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Chicken Rubbed with Herbs de Provence

Chicken with Herbs de Provence Rub and stuffed with Fresh Rosemary

Cooked Whole Chicken

Roasted Whole Chicken with Herbs de Provence Rub and stuffed with Fresh Rosemary

There was a time in American history when the family would sit down for a roasted chicken or a roast beef on a Sunday afternoon. This image almost seems like a Norman Rockwell painting, but it was a very real weekly occurrence.

For too many the process of roasting a chicken for Sunday dinner is too daunting, too complex and requiring too much time. The truth of the matter is that it a roasted chicken provides a great meal, fills the house with mouth watering aromas, provides leftovers and is actually quite simple to prepare.

I think that a large component of the misconception is that many people equate roasting a chicken for Sunday Dinner to a mini Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the trimmings and fixings. The reality is that a roasted chicken, a side or two of vegetables and gravy is all that you need to make a great and simple meal.

With that being said, the ready to eat roasted whole chicken found at the grocery store is not a substitute for cooking one at home. Yes, it is a easy solution when in a pinch, fixed for time and can think of no other alternatives, but it is not the same as cooking a chicken at home. Not only is to bird smaller, but it is not exactly inexpensive. One of the great things about purchasing a whole chicken vacuumed sealed in plastic is that it can remain in the freezer indefinitely. I typically by a couple of chickens when the price per pound is less the one dollar. I looked for chickens that weight between four and a half to five and a half pounds.

Preparation of the chicken for roasting is quite simple, but does require some planning:

  • If the bird is frozen, defrosting will need to be started a day before cooking. Typically some combination of being defrosted on the kitchen counter and the refrigerator.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Follow the instructions on the bag for cleaning the bird and removing the giblets. See the post: Giblets and Everything but the Kitchen Sink Gravy on how to make simple yet very flavorful homemade gravy.
  • Pat the bird dry and place it on a roasting / broiler pan.
  • Then apply the Herbs de Provence with Salt and Black Pepper Rub to the chicken. You will use all of the rub mixture.
  • Take a handful (about ten sprigs) of fresh Rosemary and insert them into the bird cavity.
  • Lightly cover the bird with a sheet of aluminum foil (does help in keeping the chicken moist) and place it in the oven. If you are using a cooking thermometer, then insert the probe into the thigh. I have used a thermometer probe in the past, but have found the instructions on the bag to be a good indicator of how much time is required to roast the chicken.
  • Place in the oven. The rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound of whole chicken. There is a lot of variability in roasting a whole bird, but this rule is a good one to follow. Example: 5 pound bird will require 100 minutes in the oven.
  • About 20 – 30 minutes before the bird is scheduled to be finished roasting, I remove the aluminum foil and allow the skin to become golden brown.
  • With a thermometer check for an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (USDA recommends and internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit). However, through the process of equilibration the internal temperature will rise to that recommended temperature as the bird rests for 20 minutes while you prepare the remainder of the meal.
  • Once the bird has rested, it is now time to carve the bird for your meal.

The use of the Herbs de Provence Rub and the fresh Rosemary stuffed into the cavity of the bird provides a nice subtle herb overtone to both the flavor and the aroma of the bird. I have found that the inclusion of these two elements when roasting the chicken provides that extra boost to the flavor of the chicken meat that is sometimes lacking in chicken.

Drippings: Use of the drippings to make a rue for the homemade gravy that you can prepare for this meal. For this meal I made a gravy following the recipe detailed in the post: Giblets and Everything but the Kitchen Sink Gravy

Side Dishes: As mentioned earlier in the post, a roasted chicken for Sunday dinner does not have to be an all out affair with the equivalent of Thanksgiving Dinner fixings and trimmings. I find that some roasted vegetables (potatoes, carrots and mushrooms) or mashed potatoes and steamed string beans make for great side dishes that require only a little preparation.

Servings: A four to five pound roasted chicken will feed four adults.

Remaining Chicken: If there is any chicken remaining, then use it in chicken salad or save it to add to a soup made from the stock of the chicken carcass. In the event that you made the chicken for two people and there is half a chicken remaining, then a homemade chicken pot-pie is an awesome use of the leftovers.

 

 

 

 

Mar 15

Smørrebrød – Danish Open Sandwiches

Smørrebrød is literately Danish for butter and bread (smør og brød), but has come to mean Danish open-faced sandwiches. If you have ever been to Copenhagen, you will have surely seen shop windows displaying meticulously arranged open sandwiches which are an important part of Danish life. The basis for Smørrebrød is rugbrød, a dark rye sourdough bread which I’ve been making recently and hence the reason for a post about it.

Traditional Danish rugbrod slicer

CC Image courtesy of Nillerdk on Wikipedia

Traditional toppings include pickled herrings, cheese, eggs, liver pates, vegetables, salmon, meats and sausages, and sometimes decorated red onions, dill and fish roe. Since the sandwiches are open and don’t have another piece of bread to hold it together they are usually eaten with a fork and knife.

Creamed Herring SmorrebrodI am sure that Danes may have issues with my sandwich creation, but like a lot of things, you have to experiment with what you have. I buttered some slices of rugbrød, placed some chunks of herring in cream sauce on top and then decorated each sandwich with some chopped baby leeks, slices of red onion and a sprig of fennel. We ate these with a little glass of aquavit, which we got from Bill’s alcohol re-gift party, however it was Norwegian instead of Danish. Emily still had bad memories from the last time she drank aquavit, so she didn’t finish it. The sourdough tang from the rye bread is a perfect accompaniment to the herring, and the red onion didn’t over power the taste, which it can do sometimes in salads.

Mar 14

Giblets and Everything but the Kitchen Sink Gravy

Gravy made with chicken giblets

Chicken Giblet Gravy

Chicken Organ Meat

Chicken Giblets (Liver, Neck, Gizzard and Fat)

Ingredient for Giblet Gravy in a pot

Ingredients for Giblet Gravy in a Sauce Pan

Stock for Giblet Gravy

Giblet Gravy Stock

Strained Chicken Giblet Stock

Strained Giblet Stock

Rue

Rue from Roasted Chicken Drippings

Giblets are the polite culinary term for the organ meat, also known as offal for poultry (chicken, turkey, goose, duck…you get the idea). Giblets typically include the heart, liver, gizzards and the neck. Yes, the neck is not an organ, but in the United States, the neck is typically included in with the Giblets. The word giblet comes from Old French via Middle English and means “game stew”

For those at this point have gone squeamish, saying “yuck” and about to close the post, read on. Giblet gravy is phenomenal and there is no comparison. Not to mention the idea of handling and cooking giblets may make you shudder, but trust me, you have eaten giblets whether you have realized it or not.

Giblets can be sourced two different ways. The first is when purchasing a whole bird (poultry). The plastic wrapping will indicate that there are partial giblets or whole giblets enclosed within the cavity of the bird, either in loose form or in a packet. I am confident that some of readers have not removed the giblets prior to roasting the bird in the past. Regardless, the giblets need to be removed before preparing the bird for roasting. The second source of giblets is to purchase the giblets in individual containers from the grocery store. Most grocery stores sell chicken livers and gizzards in this manner. Hearts are not as easy to find and the neck are typically packaged and sold frozen. More often then not, you will have difficulty in finding chicken necks, but turkey necks are a fine substitute.

I could go into great detail on what makes Giblet Gravy so amazing, that the organ meat provides a deep, rich, earthy (iron) complexity to the gravy for which there is no substitute. This description is bordering on being a “Foodie” and this blog is all about the fact that “We are not Foodies”.

When I first made Giblet Gravy years ago for Thanksgiving Dinner it was at the insistence of my mother. I had no idea what I was doing and followed her instructions. In time I have expanded upon her timeless recipe and have created what I believe is to be freestyle approach that takes advantage of whatever is available in the refrigerator.

Where appropriate in this post, I have explained that an ingredient is optional. Much of what I add to the stock that first must be prepared is based upon what I have been saving in the freezer in the event that I want to make a stock for a soup or a gravy.

Making the Giblet Gravy Stock

  • Medium size sauce pan (3 Quart)
  • Giblets from the bird, washed and if desired sliced, cut or scored to expand their surface area
  • Chicken trimmings (meat and fat) that I have been saving in the freezer from the preparation of previous meals: Baked Breaded Chicken Cutlets and Asian Style Orange Chicken. (Optional)
  • Mushroom Stems and broth from the snacks that I prepared in the following two dishes: Broiled Portabella with Blue Cheese and Open Faced Boiled Swiss Cheese, Ham and Portabella. (Optional)
  • The tops of the carrots that I cleaned to be used as a side dish with the roasted chicken. Note: Vegetable tops are a great source of flavor and a perfect use of something that otherwise was going to be discarded. At Thanksgiving I always roast carrots, parsnips, celery and mushrooms to go with the turkey. I throw all of the tops into the giblet stock.
  • Three to four garlic cloves. I just smash them with the broad side of the knife and toss them in. I do not peel them first.
  • Two or three Bay Leaves
  • Pinch of Salt (I prefer to use Sea Salt)
  • A dozen or so cranks on the Black Pepper Mill
  • Dash of Herbs (Rosemary, Thyme, Herbs de Provence), or use a fresh sprig of the first two
  • Everything but the Kitchen Sink: There is typically some vegetable in the refrigerator that you had used for a previous meal and is looking a little ragged. I almost always add these tired looking vegetables to the stock. This time it was green onions, but in the past it has been onions, shallots, celery, mushrooms or parsnips. I would caution using Bell Peppers for they may impart too much flavor.
  1. Once all of the ingredients have been added, fill the sauce pan 7/8ths full with water and turn on the stove to High and bring it to a boil. Once it has begun to boil, bring slowly reduce the heat to Medium Low. The key is two-fold. First is to extract all of the flavor and essence from the ingredients. The second is that you want to reduce the volume of liquid in order to concentrate the flavors. In short, you are making a chicken stock.
  2. About an hour or so later, the volume in the sauce pan has been reduced 50%. Turn off the heat and allow the giblet stock to cool.
  3. Place a wire strainer over a bowl and pour the contents of the saucepan into the wire strainer to separate the ingredients from the liquid. You should have strained about 4 – 5 Cups lof liquid / stock.

Making the Gravy

  1. Separate the fat (drippings) from the stock. Add the drippings from the chicken (poultry) the same sauce pan and heat on Medium High. If you do not have the drippings from the roasted chicken, then use two to three tablespoons of butter.
  2. Add three table spoons of flour
  3. Mix these two ingredients well. For those that did not know, you just created a rue.
  4. Slowly add the Giblet Stock to the rue, thoroughly mixing the two together. It may appear to be a little thin at first, but it will thicken to the right consistency.
  5. Add Salt and Black Pepper to taste. If done right, no additional seasoning is required.
  6. Once the gravy has come to a boil, reduce the heat to Low until you are ready to serve the Giblet Gravy with the roasted chicken. Since the roasted chicken has to be out of the oven and resting for twenty minutes and use of the drippings are an essential element to the gravy, I make my gravy during the time when the bird is resting prior to being carved.

Leftover Gravy:

There will likely be some leftover giblet gravy remaining at the end of meal if prepared with a roasted chicken or turkey. There are a couple of uses for this gravy. You can use it with the leftovers for your next meal to moisten the meat, as the wet ingredient in a homemade potpie with the leftover meat or freeze it in the freezer and use it for another meal where poultry is the meat, but no gravy was created; i.e. baked chicken breasts or thighs. I have even added it to soup since the remaining amount will not affect the overall consistency of a soup.

 

Mar 14

A buttery delight – Homemade Rowies

After writing about rowies the other week, I thought I should attempt to make them since it’s been a couple of years since I’ve had one. I first made the basic bread dough from the flour, sugar, salt and yeast and then after kneading, I left it for an hour or so to double in size.

Basic bread doughWhile waiting for the dough to rise, I creamed together the butter and lard. It was shocking to see how much fat goes into butteries, but it is well worth it, because without fat, sugar and salt, food would be dull and tasteless. I had some trouble finding real lard, since the ‘health police’ have all but banned it from modern life, and as far as Gilliam McKeith goes, she can kiss my @rse. I eventually found some at Fiesta, the Mexican supermarket.

Creaming the butter and lardNext I rolled out the dough to about 40cm x 30cm x 1cm and took a quarter of the butter and lard mixture and spread it over two thirds of it.

Dough with first layer of lard and butterThe third of the dough without the lard and butter was folded into the middle and then the other side was folded over the top, forming a ‘sandwich’ three times the height.

Dough after first foldThe dough was then rolled out again to the same size as before along its length and the spreading and the folding process was repeated 3 more times. After the butter and lard mixture had been used up, the dough was rolled out once more and cut into 16 equal sized pieces.

Butteries ready for the ovenThe 16 pieces was formed into rough, round circular shapes and left to rise for about 45mins on a greased baking sheet. They were then cooked at 200C (400F) for about 25mins, until golden brown and then left to cool on a wire rack.

Rowie with butter and jamThey turned out great. They were a wee bit greasier than some I’ve had, but the taste was spot on and it is hard to resist the temptation to eat them all. I gave a few for Ems to take into work for a Scottish colleague and what was left we’ve put into the freezer for a treat in the future.

Mar 14

It’s pie day (actually pi day and only in the US)

The 14th of March in the US is written 3/14 and 3, 1 and 4 are the most significant digits of pi (π) i.e. 3.14. Though some people say that the real pi day won’t be until March 14th, 2015 at 9:26:53 AM when the date and time matches the first 10 digits of pi 3.141592653.

pi-day

pi-day