Don't Lose Heart

ROASTED LEMON ROSEMARY CHICKEN

Sorry, my photos for this page have vanished – I’ll take more soon…

This was one of Dan’s recipes, and it’s my favorite chicken preparation. I’m including the recipe for my Pan Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, a great side dish for the chicken.

Super Easy/Healthy

Ingredients: Whole chicken, dried Tarragon, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (yes, I always think of Paul Simon’s “Scarborough Fair” too!), margarine or butter, lemon.

Kitchenware: 9″ x 11″ baking dish, baster.

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees.

Place the chicken in your baking pan. Put around 1/3 cup of margarine or butter (not much is going to stay on the chicken, but you want enough to give you some basting liquid), into the pan. Then squeeze a lemon or two (around 1/2 cup of juice) and pour the juice over the chicken, making sure the top of the chicken is moist, so the herbs will stick to it.

Sprinkle the Tarragon, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme over the chicken. No measurements, just a light sprinkling of each.

Put the chicken in the oven with the feet facing the oven door. Every 15 minutes or so, pull the pan toward you and tilt it slightly so the lemon and chicken juices drain toward you and then baste the top (very gently the first couple of times so the herbs don’t get washed off). A 5 – 6 pound chicken will take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to cook.

You can’t baste too often, but you can baste too little! Every 15 minutes or so is good.

Pan Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

*****Rating: Easy/Healthy

Ingredients: potatoes, fresh rosemary, olive oil, optional garlic.
Kitchenware: Large cast iron skillet

Pour some olive oil into the skillet, enough to cover the entire bottom well (don’t forget, olive oil is good for you!). Take a sprig of rosemary and hold the top 1 inch firmly, then pull the leaves off heading toward the bottom. Chop the fresh rosemary and sprinkle it in the olive oil and put on low heat for 10 minutes to infuse the oil with the rosemary flavor. Turn heat off after 10 minutes and let it sit. I used 3 long sprigs for these two potatoes.

Chop the potatoes into chunks, around 1 inch wide or so.

Note: When I’m feeling very Julia Childish I take most of the rosemary out of the oil at this point and put it in a bowl, then put it back in the skillet after the potatoes are browned on one side. Keeps the rosemary more tender, but also has a stronger flavor. Up to you, I do it both ways.

Around 40 minutes after putting the chicken in the oven, turn the heat under your skillet to high and when the oil is hot, put the potatoes in. When the bottoms of the potato chunks are brown, turn them and turn the heat down to medium/medium low and let another side brown. If you’re going to add the garlic, now’s the time, otherwise turn the heat to low and wait for the chicken to be done.

Optional Garlic

Ooooh, I love this, and garlic is so good for you, but if you’re the only one eating the garlic, be prepared to hear the Police song “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”!

Chop the garlic (2 – 4 cloves, or more if you dare) into slices. Just after the potatoes have been browned on two sides, push them off to one side of the pan and turn the heat to low.

Immediately put the garlic in and brown it on both sides (there should be enough heat left in the skillet to brown the garlic on low). Once the garlic is browned, stir it in with the potatoes and keep on low until the chicken is done.

When the chicken is done (the chicken juice runs out of the chicken clear, not red), carve and serve.

I like to put the chicken on a platter and place the potatoes around it and garnish it with rosemary sprigs.. I also like to use the baster to get some of the lemon/chicken juices (not the oils) to drizzle over the chicken slices, and I serve it with steamed broccoli.

You notice I didn’t list salt. The lemon and herbs create a great flavor, so I’d serve it as is, and let people add their own, if they want to. (Be sure to tsk tsk so they know you care about their heart and blood pressure.)

Now you have Chicken Sandwiches this week, or you can heat the chicken and potatoes in a skillet with a little of the lemon/chicken juices.

Or make some Homemade Chicken Soup – just remove most of the meat from the bones and set it aside. Chop up carrots, celery, and an onion. Pop the carcass in a big pot and add enough water to cover the chicken, add the chopped onion and bring it to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. Strain or remove all the bones with a slotted spoon. Now chop up some carrots and celery and throw them in. Cover the pot and let it simmer until the carrots are tender – about 30 minutes. Add the chicken pieces you set aside and give them a few minutes to heat up. You can cook some noodles and pour the soup over them. Serve with some crackers or muffins.

Did you know that old-fashioned chicken soup has healing properties? It contains agents similar to those in modern cold medicines and can act as an anti-inflammatory, easing congestion and coughs.