Monday, January 24, 2011

San Diego is the Bee's Knees

While the East Coast was bracing for another storm, icy weather, and general coldness, I was at the beach, in a swimsuit, basking in the sun. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying - San Diego, you rock.

Apart from my visit to the beach, it was a lovely weekend. Nothing too crazy, just a relaxing weekend. (There was an adventure on Saturday night trying to find a bar to play some pool. 4 bars later we gave up. But not without a few beers...) The weekend was capped off with a delicious dinner: Roasted Chicken. Adam had been craving it for a while, and I felt like cooking dinner instead of picking something up so chicken it was. If you don't know how to do this, you are missing out. It's economical, delicious and most of all - EASY. Add some cut up vegetables, and it's a one dish meal.

I was able to pick up this beauty at Trader Joes late Sunday afternoon.
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5 lb free range organic chicken

Yah, it might not look like much, but with a few ingredients and an hour in the oven this sucker will look and smell unbelievable.

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Ready for a date with some 450 degree weather ;)

Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:
  • 3-4 lb roaster chicken
  • 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 1 large lemon
  • 1 head of garlic with the top cut off (as if you were going to roast the garlic)
  • sea salt, pepper
Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Wash and pat completely dry (inside the cavity too) the chicken. Make sure it's as dry as possible so that it won't steam when you cook it. When dry, "truss" the chicken by tying the legs together up over the chicken breast. (Youtube is awesome for learning these things).
  3. Take about a palm-full of Sea Salt (or about a Tablespoon + a little) and generously sprinkle over the entire chicken. Add a little to the inside of the cavity. Seriously, be generous here. You want to be able to see the layer of salt on the chicken,
  4. Stuff the chicken cavity with the rosemary, garlic and the lemon (cut into quarters).
  5. Put in the oven and let sit for about 50-60 minutes.
  6. Remove the chicken from the oven and lit sit for about 10-15 minutes before serving.
That's it. It's so simple, no-fuss and it smells and tastes out of this world. You will never buy a precooked rotisserie chicken after this.

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Yes Please!

I was feeling extra lazy so I cut up some carrots and red onion and added some fingerling potatoes and put them in the pan to cook with the chicken. The juice from the chicken seasons it all very nicely, and the potatoes come out moist and flavorful. Also, since I had a 5lb chicken I left it in the oven for an extra 30 minutes.

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Gus, one of Adam's roommates staring longingly at the chicken.



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