I ascribe to the
motto-Cook once, eat twice. Sometimes, I
can even get 3 or 4 meal ideas out of one cooking session. Today I’d love to share my roast chicken
recipe with you. It is the start for
chicken tacos, chicken casseroles, soups, or salads.
I start with a whole
chicken, actually TWO whole chickens. If
you have the time to bake one, beIieve me, you have time to bake 2!!--One to eat now and
the other heads to the freezer for another day.
I line my roasting
pan with foil. I then wash the outside
plastic wrap of the chicken. I know this
sounds strange, but food experts can’t seems to agree whether the actual chicken
should be rinsed or not due to the potential for contamination and splattering
of chicken juice around the kitchen.
Washing the
packaging, then using scissors to cut the plastic and slide it off the chicken
while it sits in the foil lined pan allows all the juices to end up in the
roaster pan. Splattering is minimal. I pitch the package and lay my chickens-
breast side down and side by side. I
season liberally with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper or garlic powder.
I believe I have
mentioned chicken soup base in the past as a seasoning ingredient and making
broth. I add a tsp or 2 to a cup of
water and pour that into the bottom of the roasting pan. I cover the pan with a
piece of foil tented over the chickens.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the chicken in the oven. Turn over one hour into the cooking time and
season this side of the chicken breast side up.
Two to 2 1/2 hours
later for a 4-5 lb bird and an internal temp of 180 degrees, you will remove
the nicely browned roasted chicken from the oven. I serve it with roasted potatoes and green
beans the first night.
Remove the rest of
the chicken meat from the bone. If you
have time, do the same to the second chicken.
Freeze the meat in amounts appropriate for your family.
I place the chicken bones, the juices in the
pan, and the skin into a pot and cover with water. Add an onion, 2-3 stalks
celery-leaves and all, and a couple of roughly chopped carrots. Season
with pepper and a Tbsp or 2 of chicken soup base. Simmer for an hour or so. Allow to cool &
remove all the solids from the broth.
Refrigerate and the fat will solidify and can be easily removed.
Here is another option......
ROASTED LEMON CHICKEN
1 whole chicken, 3-5 lbs.
1-2 tsp. lemon -pepper seasoning
1 lemon
salt and black pepper, to taste
1/4 c. butter, softened
Preheat oven to 425°. Remove zest from lemon and mix with softened butter. Squeeze juice out of lemon and mix 1 T. with the butter and zest. Salt and pepper the mixture as desired. Place chicken in a roasting pan and remove the neck and gizzard; discard.
Separate the skin from the chicken starting at the neck. Avoid piercing the skin, if you can. Using your fingers, slide most of the butter under the skin. (This is messy work.)
Rub the rest of the butter all over the surface of the chicken. Place in roasting pan, breast side down. Sprinkle liberally with the lemon-pepper, and season with the salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes; then turn the chicken over. Sprinkle the rest of the lemon juice over the top and season with this side the lemon pepper and salt.
Bake for 1 hour, until meat thermometer registers 170° or until juices run clear when the meat is pierced. Allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Leftovers are good for sandwiches, pot pies or salads.
Note: I also like to roast a chicken using only garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Sometimes simple is the best. De-fat the drippings by skimming the fat off the top or refrigerating until the fat solidifies. Add to a gravy mix as part or all of the required liquid and you will have a topping for mashed potatoes that will be
hard to beat.
Confectionately Yours,
Sue
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