Practically Perfect Oven Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter

I know what you are probably thinking: plain ol' chicken? Hmm. Yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. I like my meat with some flavor thankyouverymuch.

People of the internet, if you thought that, you would be seriously and sadly mistaken, and obviously, you also have never tasted a well roasted chicken before. If you had, you would never have uttered such blasphemy against chicken. Really. Because roasted chicken, in all its simplicity, is glorious. And this particular recipe is killer.





I think one of the most difficult adjustments to life at home with baby is the lack of structure inherent in my days. Work provides natural structure to life: working then playing, waking then sleeping, the rhythm of life is clearly defined by the demands of your job and the position of the sun. But when you have a newborn baby, all the boundaries disappear: working, not-working, sleeping, and waking begin to blend together into a mushy purple haze. Like suddenly, it's 5am and you stumble out of bed for the umpteenth time to feed the baby, snuggle down on the couch with him, and then suddenly you jolt awake (did I fall asleep during a feeding again?) and it's 6:30am, and the half drunk bottle of milk is mushed up against the sleeping baby's nose, and your boobs are aching and leaking like fountains because you missed your 5:30am pumping session. Where exactly was the sleeping/waking, working/not-working line there? I don't know, the line went AWOL a long time ago. It now seems perfectly normal to sleep in the middle of the day and run a load of laundry while watching Battlestar Galactica and feeding the baby at 4am.

Under such circumstances, you sort of have to cling to whatever structure you can make for yourself. You need something to distinguish night from day, and weekdays from weekend (because as as we have already established, motherhood is a job with no breaks, weekends, or vacations). For me, that means it's really important to do something different, anything different at all really, to make Saturday and Sunday special and different from the rest of the week.





One way to do this is make up a weekly chore routine: you know, Monday grocery shoping, Tuesday library, Friday laundry and farmer's market, etc. It's important to not allow myself to do "work" (ie: do the laundry and the housework) on Saturday or Sunday. It's important to go to church and the beach on the weekend. And finally, I think it's important to have Sunday night dinner. I like the idea of having a "big" family meal on Sunday night, a meal that is a little special, a little more fancy than usual. I just decided to institute this ritual this week because I am sick of the monotony and sameness of baby care, but I think it's a great tradition to have, regardless of whether you are currently enslaved to a newborn's needs or not.

I honestly can't think of a better dish to start this weekly tradition off with than this roasted chicken recipe. I have been making different versions of roasted chicken for years, but this one is hands down my favorite. It's so good that Nate (he is so gosh darn picky too!) who professes not to like chicken because it's "boring," spent most of last night gushing about how good this was. It's simple and elegant, bursting with flavor, and meltingly tender.

Practically Perfect Oven Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter
Adapted from Bon Appetit January 2001

Hi internet, I'm German. I have little square hands, a ridiculous amount of hair, and I cook with butter. As you make have noticed by now, this is not a low fat food blog. Yes, all my recipes have like, a million pounds of butter in them. But please chew on this little nugget: when I was pregnant my doctor made me meet with a nutritionist, and my nutritionist said butter is ok. Yes, you heard me right. BUTTER IS OK! Sure, butter is made of fat, but a) hydrogenated, trans-fat, high-fructose corn syrup, preservative laden junk food is much worse for you and you probably indulge in that occasionally and b) a little butter goes a long way to making you feel fuller faster, and it helps keep your blood sugar levels lower. So like, when I asked him if it was ok to have toast for breakfast, he literally told me "only if you have butter on it." YES.

So please enjoy this recipe in all it's herb butter glory, and if you start to feel a twinge of guilt about the butter, just remember: Beck's nutritionist said it's ok!

What do I need for this fabulous recipe?
1 roasting chicken 4-6 lbs, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 cup butter (1 stick, or 120g) softened but not melted
1 tablespoon fresh thyme + 3 large sprigs
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley + 3 large sprigs
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary + 3 small sprigs
kosher salt
cracked pepper

roasting pan and rack
cotton kitchen twine
meat thermometer

Amazing but optional gravy
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons thickening flour (all purpose flour, or gluten-free sweet rice flour or arrowroot starch)





Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and position rack in the lower third of the oven.




Here is a picture meant to represent all the things you should have for this recipe: See that bottle of wine? pretend it's a really a box of chicken stock. And pretend that little jar of coriander isn't there. I have this terrible habit of taking pictures of the wrong ingredients. Soooooory.




Get your herbs. Take 1 tablespoon thyme, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and 1 tablespoon parsley and chop finely.




Mix chopped herbs into butter, along with 1 pinch salt.




With your fingers, loose chicken skin. Slide your fingers under the skin starting from the neck side, and working your way to the legs.




With your fingers, spread 3 tablespoons of the herb butter mixture under the skin. Make sure it gets spread around over the breast meat and legs. Sprinkle outside of the skin with a pinck of kosher salt and some cracked pepper. Spread an additional 2 tablespoons of the herb butter on the outside of the skin, over the breasts and legs.




Stuff the cavity with the 3 sprigs thyme, 3 springs parsley, and 3 sprigs rosemary.




Tie the chicken's legs together with cotton kitchen twine, and tuck the wings under.




Place chicken on roasting pan.




Roast chicken in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and brush skin with herb butter. Roast chicken for 30 more minutes. Remove from oven, and brush skin with herb butter a second time. Replace chicken in oven, and roast until thigh meat registers 180 degrees on an instant read thermometer (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven, and brush with herb butter. Let rest for at least 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute.


Amazing but Optional Gravy



Tip chicken up to allow any juices from the cavity to drain into the roasting pan. Remove chicken and rack to a cutting board for carving. Set roasting pan over a burner on high heat, and add 1 cup chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, and scrape up any bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Strain into a sauce pan.


Add any left-over herb butter mixture to the sauce pan. Add 2 tablespoons flour (sweet rice four, arrowroot starch, or corn starch if you are cooking gluten-free, all-purpose flour if you are not). Bring to a boil, and whisk vigorously until sauce comes together and thickens. Add more flour to thicken, or more stock to thin.

enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lime and Sundried Tomatoes

Let's say you want to feed a family with one chicken breast. And let's say that you also want to to feed them something nutritious, with lots of whole foods and fresh ingredients. And lets ALSO say that whatever you make, it has to taste AMAZING. Well do I have a recipe for YOU!

When Nate and I got married (has it been 3 years already?) my parents gave us a week at a timeshare in Cancun, Mexico. If you are like me, you like to pack your vacations as full of activities and sightseeing as possible. Mayan pyramids! Freshwater lagoons! Underground rivers! Swimming with Dolphins! Jet skis! Snorkeling! Dancing! Dining!



But not this time. If you have ever been through the insanity of a wedding, you know that once the rings are on and the gown is off, all you want to do is lay on a white sandy beach for a week and chilaaaax. Which is exactly what we did. Every day we got up at noon, wandered down to the palapa for a quick bite, and then spent the rest of the day zoned out on a beach chair, piña coladas in hand. Oh, I suppose occasionally we also, I don't know, read a novel or two as well. It was kind of heavenly.

One of the great things about Mexico is, well, Hot Damn! Do they have great Mexican food! We had some pretty amazing meals while we were there. But honestly, I think one of my favorite meals from that trip was the tortilla soup we had at the palapa every day. It's simple, requires few ingredients, is healthy and low in calories (if you care about those things!), and packs a lot of punch in the flavor department. Limes. Sundried tomatoes. Queso Fresco. It's kind of amazing. Don't trust me? Try it. You'll like it!

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lime and Sundried Tomatoes

In this recipe I had to use "mexican cheese blend" because, well, when you have a newborn baby you can't exactly just run out to the store everytime you forget something. So I had to make do. If you CAN find it near you, I recommend buying "queso fresco" a mild and crumbly fresh Mexican cheese. If you can't find it that's ok: a mild cheddar should do you just fine.

SOUP INGREDIENTS
1 quart low sodium chicken stock
1 chicken breast
4 corn tortillas, slightly dried out (just leave them out while you do other stuff)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 jalapeño (optional) seeded and minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large juicy limes
2 splashes olive oil
kosher salt
freshly cracked pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
queso fresco

OTHER OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
avocado cubes
chopped cilantro


RECIPE
preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pat the chicken breast dry, then add a splash of olive oil to chicken. Salt an pepper liberally on both sides, and roast in over for 25 - 30 minutes until golden and cooked through.


Meanwhile, heat a splash of olive oil in a large heavy bottomed cast iron pot (a regular soup pot us ok too). Saute onions, garlic, and jalapeño in the oil until just golden.

Add the stock to the pot.

And add the fire roasted tomatoes.

Add the juice of two limes. Mmm. Limes. Yummy. Bring to a simmer.

Remember that chicken? Bring it out of the oven, and let it cool down for 10 - 15 minutes, until it's cool enough to handle. Then, shred that sucker. Use two forks. It's easy!

When it's done, it should look like this. Add that to the pot with the stock. Ok.

THE END. Goodbye.

Just kidding.

Oh yeah. Toppings. DUH. Remember those tomatoes? We are going to roast them! Cut them all in half, and toss them with a splash of olive oil, some kosher salt, and some pepper. Roast them in the over at 200 degrees. When they are chewy (40 minutes or so?) they are done.

Slice the tortillas into matchstick thin slices.

Until they look like this.

Saute them in a little oilve oil on high heat, until they are crunchy.

Ok. NOW you are done.

Unless you want some other stuff. Like avocados. Or cheese. Oh, and those tomatoes? I was totally going to take a picture of them. But I ate them all before I could. They were really good. No. Really, REALLY good.

To assemble, ladle soup into bowls. Top with tortilla strips (don't add the tortilla strips until JUST before serving. Otherwise they will get soggy. Ad nobody like soggy tortillas. Yuck.) Top with tomatoes, cheese, avocado, whatever.



Enjoy!

Healthier Beef Stroganoff

I was talking on my mom to the phone this evening when she offered to bring me some chicken soup. You may or may not recall, but I have a cold. A bad cold. A cold so bad abd miserable that it could very well be, well, a man cold. Can I please get someone to give ME a little bell, rub my head, and say "poor little bunny?" Please? hello? Hm.

Anyway, she offered to bring me some soup, but when I told her that I had just bought a ton of stuff to make beef stroganoff because I had to have some, she dissolved into laughter. Back in the day, one sweltering August night when my mom was 40 weeks pregnant with me, my due date actually, she woke up in the middle of the night and HAD TO HAVE BEEF STROGANOFF. And well, pregnant women have craved crazier things. So she got up, in the middle of the night, and started cooking. And cooked for hours.

An then she went into labor.



And she kept cooking. There was NO WAY she was going to go to the hospital without finishing that stroganoff. She didn't even tell my dad she had gone into labor, because if he knew he would, I don't know, take her to the hospital? Because she was having a baby? I guess she just really wanted that stroganoff.

I never knew about that story, but I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree: since I have been pregnant I have suddenly been hit with crazy beef stroganoff cravings, even though I haven't had it in years and years. In fact, the last time I had this dish I didn't even like it: It was heavy and starchy and flavorless. It was the epitome of heavy 1950's cooking, with big chunks of meat paired with heavy starches and fats. No veggies. No flavor. No complexity.



This recipe is different. It's an updated version of the old classic and it packs a lot of punch. In the old days you used a big chunk of cheap meat and braised it for hours to tenderize it, then you slathered it with sour cream and plopped it on top of some egg noodles. Here we use a more tender cut, but we use less meat and more mushrooms, and we sear it quickly. The sauce is really rich and complex. It's so good I almost want to forgo the meat altogether and make this vegetarian. And finally, I am serving it over whole grain brown rice noodles with broccoli. Gluten-free, and better for you!

Now let's just keep our fingers crossed that I don't go into labor the next time I make this!




Healthier GF Beef Stroganoff

Adapted from Bon Appétit
Serves 4 - 6
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes


Ok! You will need this stuff:
You need 1 lb brown rice fusilli (or other small curly noodle) 1 lb broccoli florets, 1 lb baby bella mushrooms (or other small brown mushroom, such as crimini) 3/4 lb tender beef such as tenderloin, 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), a yellow onion, fresh dill, beef stock (use GF vegetable stock if you can't find GF beef stock), sour cream, dijon mustard, and congac.


I have this problem where I forget to put stuff in the picture. So please, don't forget the congac. It's like a secret weapon. Get a baby bottle if you have to, or you can substitute sherry or vermouth. But really, this ingredient MAKES the sauce.

Ok! First, prep your ingredients. This dish cooks fast, and you will be very sorry if your onions are burning while you are quartering a lb. of mushrooms. So!


Cut the mushrooms into quarters. Really big ones can be cut into slices.


Chop up 1/2 of the yellow onion


Now salt and pepper your beef, and trim off any excess fat.


And slice into small pieces, about 1" - 2" long.


Heat 2 tbs of butter in a heavy skillet, until the butter bubbles and froths, and just starts to get golden. We want it hot. Then add the beef in a single layer. You don't want the pieces touching. Cook in batches if you have to.


Cook the beef until one side has just browned, then flip the pieces over. You want them to be caramelized on the outside, but only medium on the inside, so it stays tender. Once they are browned on both sides, remove the beef from the pan and set aside in a bowl or on a plate.


Add 2 tbs butter and the chopped onion to the pan. Scrape up any browned bits left over from the beef. Cook for 2 minutes, until the onions are golden. Then add the mushrooms. The mushrooms will begin to release their water. Let cook until the water has mostly evaporated, about 14 minutes.


Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook the noodles until al dente. I like to throw the broccoli in during the last 2 minutes of the cooking the noodles. Strain, and add 4 tbs of butter.


Mix it all up, and set aside.


By now our mushrooms have simmered down. Let's add 1 cup of beef stock. If you can't find any GF beef stock, it's ok to use vegetable or chicken.


Now for the SECRET INGREDIENT. It's cognac. It's SO GOOD. Please don't skip, if at ALL possible. Really.


Let the broth and cognac boil down until the sauce just coats the mushrooms, about 14 minutes.


Now add 3/4 cup sour cream and 1 tbs Dijon mustard. I was going to use yogurt.

But I chickened out.

Sorry.


Remember the beef we made? Add it into the sauce now.


Top with 1 tbs chopped dill. Let sauce simmer a bit to warm up the beef, but not TOO long. We want it to stay tender.


Serve atop of the buttered noodles/broccoli.

Enjoy!