2 Blondes and a Ginger

2 Blondes and a Ginger

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Too Chicken to Cook a Chicken?

I've always been terrified of cooking an entire chicken. I don't care what it costs, I'm going to have nicely packaged boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner. It might have something to do with the time I put a whole chicken in a crock pot, forgot to take out the giblets, and the entire thing disintegrated into some indistinguishable form of mushy chicken soup, but nonetheless, I'm scared. Well, my mom gave me a recipe that she said was delicious, so I thought I would venture out and try the whole chicken thing one more time. The recipe is pretty simple.

First, you wash and pat dry the chicken. Oh, and please remove the bag of guts while you're at it! Then rub in some herbs. We used Herbs de Provence, but you could use basil and thyme. You also need to add salt and pepper. Make sure you season the inside and outside of the chicken. Then, you cut an onion, lemon, and garlic head in half and insert them in the cavity. The first time I cooked this dish, I forgot to put the onion in the cavity, and the flavor was a little too lemony. Next, melt some butter and brush it over the entire chicken. You can then put carrots or other vegetables in the bakeware with the chicken and bake it for 1 1/2 hours at 425 degrees. After about 45 minutes, brush some more butter on the chicken- especially on the legs.

I'm not sure if it had anything to do with baking it in the Le Creuset I got for Christmas, but when I pulled that chicken out of the oven, it was prettiest thing I'd ever seen. A chicken that was perfectly brown and crisp and smelled delicious. It tasted just as wonderful. You can make a gravy with the drippings and whip up some mashed potatoes for a tasty meal. It looks so fancy and is an almost fool proof recipe...again just remember to put the onion IN the cavity! I was going to take a picture, but I couldn't find my camera at the time. So, you'll just have to trust me. It was beautiful and yummy! Fryer chickens are so inexpensive, and I used the leftover chicken to make chicken pot pie the next day. I'm converted. I'm now a whole chicken cooking kind of girl.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome!!! Roasted chickens are my favorite!! and, I'M SOOO JEALOUS OF YOU!! Le Creuset Girl!! NO FAIR! :) I'm going to have to just drool over it when I see you!