I thought the cooking muse might be back. Thought I felt her in the vicinity of the fridge, whispering, "It's a good time to cook. It's night. The house is quiet. You have a nice organic chicken in there. You have onions and fresh mushrooms." I opened the fridge. Sure enough, she was right. I cut up carrots, onions and mushrooms. I washed the chicken and I stuffed it. I salted and peppered the chicken. I put it on the rack and into the preheated oven.
Then it started to smoke. And the alarm went off. I cursed the cooking muse for bating me into the lair of the Greasy Oven Beast,who surely had got that way after a sacrificial act on her behalf. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
Once the fire department left, I had a problem on my hands. Find a way to cook the chicken without the oven, which was still breathing fire, or loose about six bucks worth of organic chicken. Lincoln reminded me that we own a convection-oven-broiler-toaster-on-steroids that usually just takes up counter space and does waffle snawidges for Bartleby. When I said the chicken wouldn't fit in the underutilized toaster, he also reminded me I own a meat cleaver. Now I know why I got married in the first place.
I got to work. Thwack! went the cleaver through the breast bone. Underneath the now split chicken, I put the mushroom stuffing. On top, butter, of course. What came out, tasted amazingly like the Brick Chicken at the Rosebud Cafe in Chicago (on Ontario), which is sadly no longer on the menu.
It was very quiet in the house again, just the sound of me nibbling piece of crispy skin at around 10:30 p.m. I thought I heard a soft murmur, something about dessert...an abundance of apples in the fridge....and I shut off the kitchen light and went to bed.
2 comments:
You're back! I thought maybe you were on summer hiatus. The chicken recipe you offer sounds yummy. My question is - why are you turning on your oven in the summer! Ok, I admit to turning on my oven to make a tomato/goat cheese tart, however, that's the only dish I put in the oven. My oven goes on summer hiatus as my thoughts turn lovingly to my grill. Have you not cooked a whole chicken on the grill? Don't be afraid, it's not that hard. I have two suggestions for you, uptown and downtown. The uptown suggestion is to use the age-old secret of brining. A brine will keep your breast meat moisture on the grill. There are plenty of recipes for brining on the web but the easiest is to take water, salt and sugar (make sure you use about a 1/2 cup of salt to a gallon of water) and let it soak. You can have it soak for an hour or two or overnight (especially recommended if your chicken is frozen/semi-frozen). I wouldn't bother putting in spices in the brine because of the chemical reaction that occurs (or so I've read in Cook's Illustrated). If you're worried about salt you can rinse. While I'm not a dietian whatsoever, I am salt-sensitive and I do not taste a salty flavor to the meat. I've been doing this all summer with all sizes of bird (from 3 lbs to 6 lbs) and it's worked wonders. I will freely admit this takes some foresight, which in your situation would not work. Thus is the downtown suggestion - dare I say it - beer can chicken. Yes, it works. No you don't have to use beer. Essentially anything with carbonation - that is beer, pop, sparkling water - will do. Most chicken cavities are big enough to accommodate the can. Pour out half of the contents (you don't want it to boil over nor do you want the hot liquid to spill as you carry it off the grill) and add whatever spice you want to the liquid and the chicken. The secret is to oil the can - that is use butter, vegetable oil or vegetable spray. That will ease getting the bird off the can. It really does make it moist. I recommend putting a half of a small potato or onion in the neck to keep the moisture trapped. There are even now stands for your beer can chicken - where you put the can in a stand and put the chicken over it.
I recommend that you use oven mitts to remove the can (it helps if you can have someone hold it for the initial tug, but not really necessary) - I wear the oven mitts with a paper towel barrier between bird & mitt.
I just made a chicken on the grill Monday and had it for dinner today. I used rosemary grown in the garden this summer with lime segements in the cavity. I had a ton of limes in the house (left over from a party) and needed to use them. While I put the chicken on a regular rack cooked over indirect heat, the lime juice imparted a vaguely Mexican perfume and the rosemary was a nice match. I also sliced up garlice for under the skin.
Pair it with some locally grown corn and a cucumber/tomato salad why you have the perfect summer dinner...
Since I mentioned the tomato/goat cheese tart, here's a recipe for those of you dealing with an abundance of tomatoes:
Prepared dough (you can either buy frozen dough from the store or a bakery or make your favorite recipe)
Two of your favorite tomatoes, sliced
Sliced medium red onion
Tablespoon dried oregano
Tablespoon dried basil
one-two ounces of aged goat cheese
parmesan for garnish.
Heat oven to 425F.
Sautee red onion until caramelized. If pressed for time, at least until translucent - about 10 minutes. If cutting down cooking time add a pinch or two of sugar to enhance sweetness.
Roll out dough to an oven-proof pie pan (alternatively you can buy dough to fit pan)
Layer thin slices of aged goat cheese on the bottom of pie pan. (I have not used the more common chevre, which is soft and comes in those tubes or rectangular packages. maybe it will work - experiment!)
Put sauteed onions along the bottom.
Take sliced tomatoes and arrange in pie pan - I like it to overlap like a deck of cards, but you do what is asthetically pleasing. When the bottom is covered, sprinkle dried basil and oregano on top. Garnish with salt, pepper and oregano.
Bake until dough is browned and tomatoes are cooked, about 25 mins.
Add whatever fresh herbs you like.
Goes great with a salad and a glass of white wine!
The awful truth, Hildy, is that something broke in our grill and now I am afraid to light it. I also can't grill late at night after Bartleby is in bed because his sixth sense will alert him that "Elvis has left the building" and he will wake up. My brother-in-law, Mo, makes amazing grilled chicken with barbecue sauce. I'll just have to wait for him to come down.
We've also had an unusually cool summer, so running the oven at night is not a problem. We could use some of your abundance of tomatoes, though!
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