Glimpse of Yesterday

Glimpse of Yesterday

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Chicken Deliciousness

Ooooh, I made the most delicious roasted chicken tonight for dinner. I frequently find myself in cooking ruts. I take the same routes in the aisles of the grocery store, leaning towards the same items each week. Well, I picked up a roaster the other day when I was shopping. On sale, of course. Now, I'm not one for watching cooking shows from a learning standpoint. I love to watch people bake and cook, but mostly as a spectator. And that goes for cookbooks, too. I find myself just looking at the pictures rather than actually reading the recipes. Boring, huh?

Well, when I was preparing the chicken for roasting this afternoon, I thought of an episode of Everyday Italian with Giada DeLaurentis (sp?) that I happened to catch the other day. I usually stick an apple and an onion in the cavity of the chicken before baking, but Giada cut up an orange and a lemon. Hmmmm. So I happened to have a bowl of oranges right in front of me. So I cut up an onion and an orange and stuffed them into the cavity. Found some twine and tied the ankles together. Wrapped some foil on the wing tips so they wouldn't burn, and then seasoned with freshly ground pepper. I then melted a 1/4 cup of butter and basted the chicken before popping it into the oven.

I baked it at 350 degrees for total time of about 2-1/2 hours (it weighed about 9 lbs before cooking). After the first hour, I began basting the chicken every fifteen minutes. The aroma that filled my house was absolutely wonderful! I wish I had taken a picture of the nice, brown, roasted bird. When I took it out of the oven, I let it sit for about 1/2 an hour while I made some mashed potatoes and sweet corn.

Let me tell you, that chicken was so moist and tender! I am excited about this because most of the time my chicken comes out dry and my husband always slathers butter or salad dressing on it.

I like to keep things simple. I like simple recipes that don't call for out-of-the ordinary ingredients or special kitchen gadgets. I don't even own a mixer. I just use a fork - forget having to plug-in anything or having to wash beaters.

How about you? Do you have a tried-and-true method of cooking your favorite main dish? Any cooking secrets you're willing to share?

Have a great day!

Liane

2 comments:

  1. Hi Lee! That sounds so yummy and it makes me hungry!!

    You know me, I think I make the same old thing all the time too....no gadgets here either..LOL.

    I love cooking fish and seafood and of course anything on the grill is fine by me!
    Hope all is well with you and yours.
    Hugs,
    rob

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  2. Oooo that does sound good. I love to watch Everyday Italian and the Barefoot Contessa, but my favorite is Nigella Feasts with Nigella Lawson. I made a triple chocolate cake of hers once that was "to die for!"

    I must confess that cooking is one of my passions. I love to search for hard to find ingredients and mix together this and that just to see what I get. And, oh yes, I have a mixer that has become my best friend. It not only mixes, but kneads dough and ginds wheat as well. I simply love it :-)

    Hope you have a great weekend.
    Rhonda

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