Chicken Recipes
Our chicken from Soul Food Farm came with heads and feet still attached. For those who've never dealt with this before — or who are used to skinless bonelss chicken breasts — Tamar has made a handy diagram for butchering a chicken. (Click to enlarge)
Tamar's roast chicken recipe:
Heat oven to 375. Rinse and dry chicken. Cut off last joint of wing. Season well inside and out with salt and pepper stuff cavity with thyme, rosemary and sage, a couple of whole cloves of garlic and half a lemon. Truss the birds—tie feet together. Add 2 tablespoons olive or peanut oil to a heated pan. Brown the chickens on medium heat on all sides--about 7 minutes per side. Turn breast-side up and place pan in oven; Roast for 20 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons butter to pan and baste regularly over the next 30 minutes or so, until the meat is at 165. Remove from oven. Let rest. Remove citrus and seasoning from cavity. Cool.
Chicken in a Pot (adapted from Cook's Illustrated, Jan & Feb 2008)
I love this chicken recipe because it is so wonderfully chicken-y. Cooking it at a low temp in a tightly closed dry pot (I use a dutch oven) makes for steamed, juicy, succulent chicken. The jus is fabulous when soaked up with a piece of bread.
1 chicken, rubbed inside and out with 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
2-3 T olive oil
1 small onion, diced medium to small (3/4 cup)
2 stalks celery, diced same as onion (1/2 cup)
1 carrot, diced same as onion and celery (1/2 cup)
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary or thyme
juice of 1/2 lemon
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Set seasoned chicken out until it is about room temperature. Heat olive oil (enough to cover bottom) in a dutch oven or another oven-proof pot. Place the chicken into the pot breast-side down; scatter onion, celery, carrot, garlic, bay and rosemary or thyme around chicken. Cook until chicken is browned, 5-7 minutes. Turn chicken over by inserting tongs or a spoon into the cavity, and cook until chicken and vegetables are well browned (6-8 minutes). Once browned, cover pot tightly (if your pot doesn't close tightly, you can cover with foil before putting the lid on) and place into oven until thermometer reads 160 degrees at thickest part of the breast and 175 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh (80-110 minutes).
Transfer chicken to carving board, tent with foil, and let rest 20 minutes. Meanwhile, strain chicken juices and vegetables through a fine-mesh strainer into a fat separator. Press veggies against strainer to get all the juices out. Allow liquid to settle and pour juices into a small saucepan. Heat on low for 5 minutes, add lemon juice to taste while cooking. Serve chicken with jus on the side. Yum!