roasted chicken with rosemary: transition

You would think by now I would be settling in here after two months, but my head stubbornly refuses to re-set my compass :  I wake up not quite sure where I am in my long life of places:  for a few seconds I am 10, sharing a bedroom with my little sister in Pascagoula, Mississippi - and next I'm looking down at one of my babies, who are now parents themselves. I hear my father's voice halloooing as he meets my car on the island:  this morning I heard a ship's bell clanging in the fog on a tiny harbor in Maine we stayed at for a few days long ago - it was the light rail just outside my window, here in Minnesota.  I know where I am physically, but the years and places tumble gently in my waking up bubble.  I think to pick some mint and thyme from the herb border beside the front door, then remember I'm on the fifth floor in a midwestern city, with no garden (yet), with a houseful of family.  

For someone who's been solitary for a long, long time, it's a transition that is taking a little too long for my patience.  But yesterday, I finally made the famous roasted -chicken- with- rosemary and thyme with 9 year old Izzie by my side, watching - and tomorrow, a birthday cake for my dearest firstborn - and let's hope it kickstarts the creative (and culinary) juices flowing.  And guess what I found just down the street yesterday morning?  A little garden center crowded with plants and herbs:  a two foot rosemary plant that now sits on the window sill, minus a few branches for this chicken.


Roasted Chicken with rosemary and thyme

Preheat oven to 350F.

1 good sized chicken to serve 6 people
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided into 2 portions
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 of a lemon
1 teaspoon whole thyme leaves
several springs of fresh rosemary
freshly cracked pepper

Wipe out the inside of the chicken with a paper towel.  Squeeze the lemon over the outside of the chicken, then place the lemon inside the cavity of the chicken.   Add 1 tablespoon of the butter inside the cavity as well.  Add several sprigs of rosemary inside the chicken, then rub the outside of the chicken with the remaining butter.  Sprinkle the chicken with the thyme and kosher salt and fresh pepper.

Place chicken in preheated oven and roast for 1 and a half hours, or until chicken is golden and the chicken legs move easily when wiggled.  Remove the chicken to cool for 15 minutes, then tip the chicken and collect some of those wonderful juices to drizzle over the chicken before slicing.( P.S.:  Save the bones and trimmings and juices for an over-the-moon roasted chicken stock!)

I served this with wilted spinach and kale, and boiled quartered new potatoes with lots of butter and pepper - what a wonderful supper!  And dessert was those wonderful tiny clementines found at Trader Joe's (from Chile) - juicy, easy to peel, and the perfect size for 2 year old Noah, though I go through three at a sitting, they are so good!

Happy almost September!

roasted chicken with green garden sauce: the end of summer

Tonight the chill at 5 o'clock was obvious - summer is over, and fall is creeping in.  The last few nights have been brisk enough to start a fire in the woodstove . Instead of vibrant ( and what I call "transcendental") brilliant orange and red leaves, we have seen only the slow yellow fading of the summer greening.   The brisk weather inspired me to roast a little chicken, but instead of the tarragon chicken I usually make, I thought of my friend from Red Maple Farm, who makes a glorious adieu to her garden with a zesty, green sauce of everything from tomatillos to pinched leaves of chard and the last cucumbers.  Though lacking tomatillos, the sauce I made from bits of this, and leaves of that, I was able to come up with something that shouted a last goodbye to the garden.

First, you need a small chicken. Preheat oven to 400F. Rinse the chicken, pat it dry, then smear with unsalted butter and drizzle a little olive oil over, and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.  Squeeze a lemon all over the chicken, including the inside cavity, then put the squeezed lemon inside the chicken.  Roast for an 1/2 hour, then turn heat down to 350F.  Roast for an hour to an hour and a half, or until the legs move easily when jiggled - it depends on the size of the chicken and the temperature when it was put in the oven.

For the green sauce:

Take a stroll through your garden or herb garden ( or your fridge!) gathering mild greens in a basket.  Avoid strong-tasting herbs, as this is a mild, fresh-tasting sauce.  Avoid basil, sage, more than a pinch of oregano, garlic.

I used:

 1 cucumber, washed and partly peeled, cut up

a handful of arugula

a handful of green tomatoes

a small handful of onion/scallion tops

a handful of parsley, both Italian and frilly

a few stems and leaves of green chard

a few chives, snipped

a small handful of nasturtium leaves

sea salt and pepper

a few drizzles of olive oil

Oh how I wish I had bought some tomatillos!  They are amazing !  Tangy, spicy, delicious.  And sorry to to have forgotten to bring home some radish leaves, which are amazingly tasty in sauces, like this, or green smoothies.

Place in food processor and coarsely puree.  Taste, and correct seasonings- it usually needs more salt.  Serve on top of sliced roasted chicken, along with the last tomatoes and some fingerling potatoes.

Enjoy!

roast chicken with tarragon sauce (creme a l'estragon)

I was amazed last week when my son asked for this recipe. It's always been one of those quick quasi-fancy classic dishes - but I had no idea he loved it that much.

It's gloomy , rainy, and foggy outside - the perfect day to roast a chicken, don't you think? The sauce takes about three minutes to make, so it isn't difficult - as long as you remember to buy heavy cream and tarragon.

To roast the chicken:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Take any size chicken ( this one was 3 lbs), and rinse it off. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Place it in a roasting pan and squeeze a half a lemon over it, then place the lemon inside the cavity of the chicken. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken, and a few tiny pieces of unsalted butter. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with a teaspoon of dried tarragon.

Place in oven and reduce oven temperature to 350F.

Roast about an hour, or until chicken is browned and the juices run clear when you tip the pan. Jiggle the leg - if it jiggles freely, it is done. If it seems stiff, roast it another 20 minutes and try again.

To make the sauce:

Pour the juices from the chicken into a skillet. Using a spoon, remove as much of the fat as you can. A little is fine, but too much makes for an oily sauce.

Heat the juices until they're simmering, then add several tablespoons of heavy cream, whisking the juices and the cream together. Add another teaspoon of dried tarragon, whisk again, and taste carefully. Add salt, pepper, and more tarragon if wished.

Either serve pieces of chicken, or slices of chicken bathed in the sauce.

Obviously, the amount of sauce depends on the amount of juices - so if you have a larger chicken, it will take longer to cook, and require more cream and tarragon.

So there you go - a classic French sauce creme a l'estragon!

photo featured in photograzing : http://photograzing.seriouseats.com/2008/11/roast-chicken-with-tarragon-sauce-sauce-creme.html

And featured on Saveur online 9 November, 2009!