What's Cooking?

I just finished a super-serious article about Obama’s Universal Pre-school program. (Not happening by the way.) So, with the super-serious writing out of the way, I want to write about silly stuff on the blog this morning. Let’s talk about food.

Lately, I’ve roasted a chicken about once a week. In the past, I used to fuss over roasted chicken. I would shove garlic cloves under the skin and surround the bird with tons of veggies. It took too long. And the veggies would end up too soggy or covered with too much fat. So, I’ve honed down my methods.

 

I throw in a few basic ingredients inside the chicken – half a lemon, an onion, salt, pepper, a whole clove of garlic, and sage and thyme from the garden. On the outside, there’s just butter and salt and pepper.

 

An hour and change in the oven and she comes out like this.

 

A little mac and cheese and broccolli rabe. Yum.

 

A roasted chicken is awesome for lots of reasons. First of all, there’s the yum factor. Kids eat it. We eat it. Second, it’s cheap. I think the bird cost about $7. Third, it’s a multi-meal dinner.

I throw the bones in the freezer, along with all the herbs and onions that were left in the bird. On a boring Sunday afternoon, I’ll turn everything into chicken stock. I’ll also save all the juices in the pan and cook it up with CSA veggies the next day.

 

See that jar of weird brown stuff in the background of that picture. That all came from that one roasted chicken.

I sauted CSA scallions with chicken juices.

 

I quickly wilted the spinach (also from the CSA) and topped it with crumbled goat cheese.

 

So good.