Still life: roasted chicken with lemons

This is something I feel strongly about: everyone should be able to cook at least one reasonably impressive (or at least presentable) dish, that they are confident and comfortable making. This dish should not be stressful- you should be able to putter away at it while entertaining guests, without feeling crazy about them distracting you from your cooking. I think this is particularly true for folks who are not generally comfortable in the kitchen, or who are not passionate about cooking. They're still going to have to one day cook for a date, or a partner's parents, and it's nice to have something decent to serve that isn't a lot of work, mental or otherwise.

A shockingly simple dish to have up your sleeve is chicken roasted whole, with lemons. It's so juicy and flavourful, and best of all, requires almost no effort.

This one's for you, Meredith.

Set your oven to 375F.

Get a whole chicken, and wash it well in cold water, inside and out. If the thing is trussed with string, you can get rid of it (unless you don't have toothpicks. In that case, take a look at how the string is tying the bird together, and remember it for later). Try not to puncture the skin. If there are giblets, and especially a neck, inside, save them for later.

Drain the bird well, and let it sit tipped in the sink for 10 minutes or so, so the inside dries out. Pat the outside with paper towels.

Put a fair bit of salt and pepper all over the chicken, and use your fingers to rub it into the skin, and into the cavity. Remember that raw chicken can carry bacteria, and you want to make sure you don't cross contaminate raw chicken into any other foods, so be aware of the surfaces you're touching with chicken hands, and clean up well afterwards.

Wash 2 whole lemons well in cold water, then roll them around on your counter, applying downward pressure, to burst some of the internal membranes, releasing the juice. Using a toothpick, knife, or similar, poke at least 20 holes in each lemon. Shove them into the cavity. Then, seal the cavity shut, either with toothpicks spearing the flap closed, or reapply the trussing string to hold the legs closed. You don't want to make an absolutely air-tight job of it, otherwise the chicken may explode in the oven.

Put the chicken in a roasting pan, BREAST SIDE DOWN, and into the upper third of the oven. No need to add any extra fat; the bird is self-basting, and won't stick to the pan. If the skin is unpunctured, it will balloon out, which looks awesome, but is actually hard to achieve, so if it happens, you win, and if it doesn't, you win a delicious chicken anyway. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over, to have the breast face up. Roast another 30 minutes.

At this point, turn the oven up to 400F, and cook for another 20 minutes or so. The chicken should be done at this point. Here's how to check: the leg and wing joints should be loose at their point of connection to the body. When you puncture the flesh of the thigh, close to the body, the juice should run clear. If it's not there yet, throw her back in the oven.

Here's how to dismantle the chicken for eating: Let your chicken rest for 5-10 minutes. Make sure your knife is good and sharp. Remove the wings and thighs/legs by slitting the skin, to better see the meat, then cut through the joint closest to the body. Remove the lemons from the cavity of the beast, being very careful because they will a) be scalding hot, and b) squirt. Save them to drizzle any remaining juice into the pan gravy that you're about to make, or over the meat itself. Examine the body of the chicken You'll see that there is a backbone right in the middle of the back. Run your knife along either side of this bone, and around the belly side, to release the breasts. These can then be sliced for a party, or left whole for a smaller group. Great Success!

Now: what of all the delicious juices left in the pan? They're awesome as is, but are improved with added fat and thickening agents. Here's a basic (and delicious) pan gravy to serve alongside your confident, accomplished chicken:

If there were giblets or a neck inside the chicken, set them in a small pot, and cover them with water or chicken stock by an inch. About when you flip the bird, set this pot to boil, and then lower it to a simmer. Turn it off when the water seems brothy and flavourful. This will be awesome for your gravy. If you don't have any giblets, you can use straight chicken stock, and even a bouillon cube (diluted to half-strength).

While your chicken is resting, in a saucepan, make a roux, by combining equal parts fat and flour. You want your fat to be hot, before adding the flour. Butter is better, but vegetable oil is ok. Melt 2 tbsp butter, and then add 2 tbsp flour. Stir constantly over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes, until the roux is golden in colour, and it has lost its raw flour taste. Slowly add the giblet juice, stirring, until you have a gravy that is slightly thicker then what you want to end up with. Pour off most of the fat from your roasting pan, and then put the juice from the pan into your gravy. You can further let it out with more giblet juice, if you want. Check the seasoning, adding salt, pepper, and juice from the chicken lemons, and thyme, if you want.

You're done!

Serve this beauty with roasted or mashed potatoes, some veggies and a salad.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Erev Christmas

Update:

1. David Lebovitz's vanilla ice cream turned out beautifully. As in, it firmed up slightly in the ice cream maker. (A Cuisinart ICE-20. Am I expecting too much of this machine?) From everything I have read, I was expecting the consistency of soft-serve. Granted, it's been some time since I've had any soft ice cream, but I distinctly remember it holding shape. In any event, it solidified beautifully in the freezer.

2. Thusly encouraged, I threw the lemon ice cream/granita mess into my stand mixer to break up the ice crystals and whip some more air into it. The result? Delicious. Still a little icy, but definitely ice cream.

3. I made a butterscotch sauce to accompany the vanilla (and who are we kidding? Probably the lemon, and anything that stands still long enough for me to drizzle it onto.) Lovely. Brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, heavy cream, a little fleur de sel, brought to the boil, then simmered to thicken, then finished with more butter, some vanilla extract and some blended Scotch.

4. Feeling awfully proud of myself, I started a third batch of ice cream, truffled honey/saffron. I let the custard stay on the heat too long, and it curdled. Garbage. Expensive garbage, at that. Pride goeth before a fall, or something, right?

5. I took a nice (well, angry, actually) break from my kitchen, went to a houseparty, home now for dinner. Not, as it turns out, the traditional Jewish Christmas eve festive meal of Chinese takeout, but leftovers from last night: braised short ribs. Here's how to make them:

**Unfortunately, I don't have any accompanying photos for this one, because last night when I was cooking, I didn't know I would have a weblog today!! I'll do better next time.

Braised Short Ribs: A Recipe in Broad Strokes. (Also, an all-purpose method of braising things)

Serves 4 big appetites

1. Finely dice: 1 large yellow onion, 2 ribs celery, 2 peeled carrots. Sweat these vegetables in 2 tbsp. butter or flavorless cooking oil (canola or some such), about 10 minutes over medium/low heat, or until veggies are translucent, but not browned. Season very well with Kosher salt and ground black pepper. Add 4 cloves chopped garlic, and 2 cups sliced mushrooms (whatever kind, really. I used white mushrooms, but cremini would be fine, shiitake would be lovely and rich, portobello would be meaty and lovely as well.) and cook a further 4-5 minutes, then scrape into a roasting pan, dutch oven or similar.

2. Dredge 6 pieces of "flanken cut" short beef ribs in all-purpose flour. Using the same pan, heat 3 tbsp. cooking oil over medium/high heat, and brown the short ribs in the oil until deep brown all over. Place on top of the vegetables you just set aside. Drain off most of the oil remaining in the pan.

3. Deglaze the pan with about 2 cups of a medium-bodied red wine. I was introduced to the Casal Thaulero 2007 Sangiovese, a medium red wine, dry, cherry notes, a bit of a metallic finish, INCREDIBLY inexpensive ($7), considering how darn drinkable it is. Anyway, keep the heat on under the pan, pour in the wine, and use a wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula to release all the delicious brown bits stuck from the browning of the meat. Let the wine reduce a little, to concentrate its flavour, and then dump it over the meat and vegetables.

4. Heat up some chicken stock (beef stock would be better, but I had neither the inclination nor the fridge space to make any), about 2 cups, or as much as is needed to have the meat 2/3 submerged in liquid. If you don't have any chicken stock, go on ahead and use beef consomme or bouillon, but keep in mind that the stuff you can buy in the store is wicked salty, and so you'll want to show some restraint in adding salt to the vegetables as you sweat them. Pour this onto the meat.

5. Halve some small red potatoes (8-10 of 'em) and fit them into the spaces around the pieces of meat.

6. Add 1/2 large can (not the industrial large size) diced, canned plum tomatoes.

7. Toss in 2 bay leaves, 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme.

8. Cover and put in an oven preheated to 350F for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, or until the meat is very soft, the braising liquid has reduced into a nice sauce, and the potatoes are fork-tender. Every 45 minutes or so, baste the meat, and taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

Leftovers? Shred the remaining meat into the remaining sauce, heat with some extra tomatoes for a rich ragù that is delicious over pasta. Or just reheat and eat as is.

This is some tasty eating, right here.