Lemon Sage Roasted Chicken + a BONUS recipe!

Wow. I'm already getting behind on my goal to post 2 recipes and 1 information/support/rambling a week and it's only January 16th! It's ok, I'm cooking more, I'll get better! I shall press on toward the goal!

As I've stated here (and facebook) before, when in doubt for what to cook for dinner, I roast a chicken. I love pretty much everything about it: the juicy, flavorful meat; a golden, crispy crust (skin... you shouldn't eat it. But just one bite fulfills my roasted chicken fantasies!); and leftovers. How I love roasted chicken leftovers. They're perfect on a simple salad for lunch, great to throw into a simple chicken pot pie, a nice topping on a homemade pizza-- I could go on and on. So for today's recipe, you shall get 2 in 1. A new chicken recipe (I try not to get into a rut with the same roasted chicken EVERY time) along with a Chinese chicken cabbage salad for the next day. Enjoy!!

Lemon Sage Roasted Chicken

adapted from Health Magazine

• 2 lemons thinly sliced
• 6 fresh sage leaves
• 1 (6-pound) chicken
• 3 tsp olive oil, divided
• bunch of carrots (depending on how many you want to eat, and if you want leftover veggies), washed and chopped in equal sized chunks (about 1 1/2-2 inchs)
• bunch of mushrooms (chopped into chunks equal to carrots)
• bunch of broccoli (yep, I said it. You're roasting broccoli. Trust me.), chop these evenly with other veggies, too.
• any other root veggie you want (Think parsnips and turnips. I do not recommend potatoes), chop.

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. In roasting pan, place all chopped vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and black pepper. Using hands, mix veggies until ALL are evenly coated with oil. You don't want any dry spots. Dry spots won't taste as good.

3. Remove giblet and all that jazz from the chicken cavity. Place chicken on top of veggies in roasting pan. Use your fingers to make some space between the chicken meat and skin on top of the breast and cut a slit between the leg and thigh areas to get your fingers between the meet and skin of those areas. Rub all meat with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Place 6 lemon slices and sage leaves under skin of chicken, distributing between breasts and thigh/leg areas. (if you have a large chicken, and use more than just 6 slices, that's ok.) Put remaining lemon into the cavity and maybe a couple sage leaves if you have them. Brush about 1 tsp of olive oil over skin of chicken.

2. Roast for 45 minutes, then check to make sure skin isn't burning. If skin is already golden brown, cover with aluminum folk. Roast for an additional 45 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the chickens thigh (away from the bone) reads 165. Transfer chicken to cutting board and let rest for about 10 minutes before carving.

Carb options

could be served with a potato of your choice (mashed sweet potatoes or sweet potato "casserole" would be beautiful and delicious, I think) and/or a dinner roll.

SUPER BONUS RECIPE!!!

Chinese Chicken-Cabbage Salad with Peanut Sauce

• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 bottled thai peanut sauce (this can have a lot of sugar in it. So if you can't find a sugar free version, make your own using smooth natural peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic powder, white pepper and ground ginger.)
• chopped napa cabbage (about 2 cups per salad)
• shredded carrot (a few pinches per salad)
• 1 green onion (green and white parts), sliced (more if you're making several servings)
• left over roasted chicken.

1. Whisk together rice wine vinegar, olive oil, and peanut sauce in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Toss together cabbage, thinly sliced, shredded carrot, green onions, and chicken in a large bowl, or in individual serving dishes.

3. Pour peanut dressing over the salad, and toss together until evenly coated.

4. Season salad with black pepper and some black sesame seeds.

Organic Carrot Soup

** just so you know, I apparently typed this all up on April 15 and then somehow didn't hit the "publish" button. My bad, yo. Enjoy!!**

As a few of you know, Scott and I hosted our first holiday dinner last weekend! We travel so much over Christmas and Thanksgiving, that we've decided to make Easter Dinner at our house an annual event. Last Sunday was the first ever! Our menu was: glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, minted peas, corn muffins, and this delicious carrot soup. The original recipe from Martha Stewart included garlic and parsnips, but I left those out because I wanted to really taste carrot! And I forgot parsnips at the store. They weren't very important, anyway. The parsnips were just chopped, sauteed and placed in the bottom of the bowl. I didn't have time to plate up everyone, so we had a buffet style, and this soup worked just great without parsnips and carrots in the bottom of the bowl!

This soup is delicious at room temperature for a refreshing spring vegetable. I suggest anyone make it with a lean ham or turkey. Just pick your favorite green vegetable and you're ready to go!

A side note about organic cooking. I've been doing a lot of reading about how to maximize money spent on organic foods, and which foods are worth spending money on organic versions because of the amount of pesticides and other contaminants used in mass production. Carrots were on the top 10 list of produce to always buy organically. I will post the entire list with more information later. I just wanted to inform people why I used organic soup. If eating organically is not something you are interested in, regular carrots will do fine.

Organic Carrot Soup

• 3 Tbsp butter or butter substitute (olive oil, butter spread, etc)
• 2 lbs organic carrots, cut in 1/2 inch thick slices on the diagonal
• 1/4 c. diced onion
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, or 1/4 tsp dry ground ginger
• pinch of sugar/Splenda
• salt
• pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth (can use vegetable broth if you want to go vegetarian)
• 3/4 cups milk
  

1. melt butter (or substitute) in a medium saucepan. Add carrots, onion, ginger, sugar, 2 tsp salt and pepper. Stir. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until carrots are tender, 10-15 minutes. If you forget about them and, say, start wandering around your apartment picking up things before people come over for Easter dinner, and they cook for about 20 minutes, it's ok.
2. Add broth and milk. season with salt and pepper.
3. Blend until most of the carrots are smooth. Leave some chunks for texture. I used an immersion blender, and it was awesome. But if you don't have one, CAREFULLY pour soup in batches into a food processor or blender.

Carb Options
This soup would be delicious with some corn muffins on the side. Jiffy corn mix is completely delicious, and there is no reason to spent all the time and money making them from scratch!

Roast Chicken and Roasted Winter Vegetables

This is a classic, cozy, comfort food for me. Not that I have any old memories of my mom roasting a chicken and smelling the herbs and citrus wafting from the oven before we all sat down to dinner; but, now, it makes my tummy warm and has some deliciously juicy and lovely flavors that just allude to home.

This recipe is from the Bride & Groom: First and Forever cookbook. You will be seeing a lot of recipes from this book in the months to come. EVERYTHING, from meatloaf to carrot cake, I have made out of this book has turned out perfectly delicious. I added a few different vegetables to the mix along with a few other herbs to be stuffed into the chicken. At home, I serve with the veggies, but I also saute some green beans or make a spinach salad (with bacon and a warm viniagrette) as accompaniment.

Roast Chicken and Vegetables

• 3 carrots (or more) cut into thirds
• 6 small red new potatoes, quartered if large (optional)
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 6 wedges
• 1 parsnip, cut into thirds
• 1 turnip, cubed
• any other winter root veggie you are in the mood for (butternut squash, rutabaga, or sweet potatoes would work well, too)
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted OR 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 chicken (3-4 pounds)
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3-4 springs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh dill
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1. Preheat oven to 425°
2. Place the carrots, potatoes, onions, parsnip, turnip and any other root vegetable in a roasting pan (can also use a 9 X 13 glass baking dish). Toss the vegetables with 1 Tbsp of butter or oil. Season with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Cover the bottom of the pan evenly.
3. Remove the neck and giblets from the cavity of the chicken and discard. Rinse the bird under cold running water and pat dry. Put the chicken, breast side up, in the center of the baking dish, on top of the vegetables. Brush the chicken with the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter/oil. Season the cavity and skin generously with kosher salt and pepper to taste.
4. Put the lemon quarters, herbs and garlic cloves into the chicken cavity.
5. Roast for 45 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven. Using tongs, tilt the chicken, pouring the juices from the cavity onto the vegetables, and shake to coat. Baste the chicken with the pan juices.
* If the bird is browning too quickly (meaning, it looks golden and delicious at this point), cover with aluminum foil.
6. Continue roasting until the chicken is a deep golden brown and the juices run clear when the tip of a knife is inserted into the thigh joint, or until a thermometer inserted into the thigh (away from the bone), registers 170°-175°, about 25-30 minutes more.
7. Transfer the chicken to a platter, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and let stand for 10-15 minutes before carving.
8. Using back of spoon, smash garlic and squeeze some lemon juice into the pan juices with veggies. Toss. Drizzle any other juices over carved bird.

Carb options
Obviously adding potatoes or sweet potatoes to the veggie mix on bottom would provide a carb serving for those dining with you. Additionally this comfort food would go well with biscuits or traditional dinner rolls.