Chicken So Good You'll Cry

Okay, well maybe you won't cry because you're not an exhausted, hormonal, pregnant woman. And you're probably not mental. But, I am all of those. And when my husband told me this was the best chicken he's ever had, I started crying from joy. After he stared at me in open-mouthed amazement, and then stopped laughing, he said, "Maybe you're over-reacting just a little bit?" Okay, okay, that's probably true. But, it was nice to hear such a lovely compliment on my cooking, particularly something that wasn't straight from someone else's recipe.

I roasted a chicken two nights ago using a really simple recipe that is part my own and part from Mario Batali's Pollo al Diavolo recipe in his Molto Italiano cookbook; I even learned how to properly truss the bird by watching a video on foodnetwork.com (that's the beauty of having your laptop in the kitchen with you). One trick I learned from my mom is to stuff your poultry with lemons or oranges. The citric acids do a great job of keeping the bird tender and juicy. It came out really tasty and was even better as leftovers. I can see using this recipe for both family dining as well as entertaining.

Courtney's Lemon Mustard Chicken
1 4-5 lb chicken, rinsed and patted dry
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbs dijon mustard
1-2 lemons cut into wedges

-- Preheat oven to 400F.
-- Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.
-- Stuff cavity with lemon, making sure that you reserve one wedge to seal the opening
-- Truss the chicken, and stuff remaining wedge in neck opening
-- Brush entire chicken with 2 tbs of the olive oil
-- Place on rack in a roasting pan and roast until browned but only about half-cooked, about 40 minutes*
-- In a small bowl, combine black pepper, a pinch of salt, and mustard. Stir well.
-- Drizzle in remaining 1 tbs of olive oil, whisking until blended
-- Remove the browned chicken from the oven and brush entire bird with the mustard mixture
-- Return to oven and continue roasting until the juices run clear when a thigh is pricked, about 30 minutes*
-- Let rest for 10 minutes before carving
-- Drizzle with pan juices when serving

*I have a convection roaster, so my roasting times were shorter than those listed above. After I I added the mustard mixture, I only cooked it for another 20 minutes. You may need to adjust your cooking times accordingly.

During this time of year, I love turning to squashes and root vegetables. There is something so "harvest-y" about them that really appeals to me. So I returned to Molto Italiano for its Root Vegetable Mash recipe -- it's essentially a veggie puree. Again, I added a few touches to make it my own. Mario calls for chives, but Whole Foods was out of them, so I skipped it. I also like this kind of dish with a sweetish taste, so I used more than the pinch of cinnamon that the recipe called for and added nutmeg. This is another one that tastes better as it sits making leftovers even yummier.


Root Vegetable Mash with Orange Zest
makes 4 servings
1 large carrot, cut into 1/2 inch-thick rounds
1 russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium turnip, cut into 1/-inch cubes
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 medium parsnip, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Pinch of ground cinnamon
2 tbs of extra-virgin olive oil
Grated zest of one orange
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch chives, finely chopped

-- Combine the carrot, potato, turnip, onion, parsnip, and sweet potato in a 4-quart saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook untill all the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes.
-- Drain the vegetables. At this point, Mario says to pass the them through a food mill. I don't own a food mill. I used my Cuisinart food processor instead.
-- Stir in the cinnamon, olive oil, and orange zest. This is where I added the nutmeg as well.
-- Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the chives and serve.

One of the things I like about trying out new recipes is that they often allow me to cook with foods different than those I typically use. The parsnip is a perfect example. I have eaten parsnips before, but somehow in my 35 years, I guess I have never seen one in its natural state. When I got to the produce section and went to find the parsnips, I found that Whole Foods hadn't labeled all of its veggies -- so there were about 10 different items that I knew could have been parsnips, but I was uncertain which one. Finally, I checked out the handy reference book they have there, and figured out that the parsnips look like white carrots. Am I the only one who didn't know that?!

I didn't cook last night -- I try not to cook on Friday nights as a rule. And tonight we're going to a friend's house for pizza with the kids. So, no cooking again until tomorrow night. I have no idea what I'll make.

Note: Mario Batali recipe references are courtesy of "Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home", by Mario Batali, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2005.