Not-So-Perfect Roast Chicken

Sam and I recently became obsessed with the idea of roasting a whole chicken with root vegetables. We got the idea from a dish we had while vacationing in Mexico, believe it or not, but really we'd been talking about it for a while and just happened to get re-inspired by our vacation meal.

We're fans of Ina Garten so we tried her recipe. The result was mixed - we LOVED the way the roasted vegetables came out; fennel, onion, baby carrots, and parsnips roasted until browned and caramelized. I've since realized that roasting is my favorite way to prepare vegetables. I just love caramelized-till-they-almost-burn yummy goodness! The chicken was not bad, it just needed to be cooked a little more and we both thought it needed a bit more flavor. We'd probably smear a paste of garlic and lemon and herb under the skin next time. But here's the recipe we used. Anyone else have a good recipe for roasted chicken?

Perfect Roast Chicken

Copyright, 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

Prep Time:

20 min

Inactive Prep Time:

20 min

Cook Time:

1 hr 30 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
• 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
• Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

Smoked Fish

I absolutely ADORE smoked fish and feel lucky to have married a man who shares my passion! A few months ago we bought some amazing smoked wild salmon and smoked trout from our local farmers market. I decided to make a smoked fish plate for dinner one night with the following accompaniments:

• Beet Salad
• French Potato Salad (adapted from Jacques Pepin's recipe)
• Lemon Horseradish Dill Yogurt Sauce
• Sliced Lemon, Tomato, and Capers
• Cocktail Pumpernickel Bread

Omigosh it was sooo delicious! I started with some lovely beets. I boiled them until tender. Waited for them to cool, peeled and cut them and added some lemon juice and olive oil, salt and pepper and voila! Sweet and tangy goodness. I always like a sweet element to a meal when I have something smoked, like smoked fish. Sweet & smokey go together perfectly, making a well-balanced flavor profile.

Next, I made the delicious French Potato Salad. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly as Jacques Pepin created it, only I didn't have fresh chives so I substitutes dried and I omitted the hard-boiled egg garnish. I highly recommend this recipe. The fingerling potatoes work perfectly and cooking the onion and garlic and then adding them to the salad really adds great flavor without the sharp tang of raw onion and garlic. Plus the Dijon adds a nice zip. I used parsley for my herb (you could also use basil or tarragon).

The lemon dill horseradish yogurt sauce is simple. Take some Fage Greek Yogurt and add fresh lemon juice, salt, prepared horseradish and chopped fresh dill to taste. Voila!

Put it all together and you have a delicious cold meal for a warm summer night.

Yeah, summer's about gone but around these parts it's still warm.

So go out and enjoy the sun and the wild smoked salmon if you can! We clearly did:

Good Hood Food is BACK!

After a five month hiatus...Good Hood Food is baaaack!

Yes, I've got a few backlogged entries from as far back as June. April and May were no cook months as Sam decided to try a pre-packaged meal plan for a while (we didn't like it). We were back to cooking in June but really we ate a lot of take out food from restaurants -- getting completely hooked on Mexican food again. It's cheap and tasty and not too unhealthy if you're careful. Hope you like my first entry. It's good to be back.