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!

Easy Peasy Blender Hollandaise Sauce with Tangerines and Lemon

I'm going to tease you with eggs benedict but not give you a recipe until tomorrow. Aren't I mean? I'm so mean. Watch me being so mean. Can I console you a hollandaise sauce recipe? Because you have to make hollandaise if you are going to make eggs benedict, right? See, there's a purpose to the meanness.

Hollandaise sauce makes me so happy. So lemony, so buttery, so velvety drizzled over asparagus or poached eggs. It's just, you know, such a hassle to make. And sometimes, it doesn't come out and it curdles. And it doesn't keep well, so you have to eat ALL of it or else throw it away. It's kind of a bummer.



Luckily we can have it when we have brunch at a fancy restaurant, right? WRONG. Honestly, you should never eat restaurant hollandaise sauce. Ever, ever. Just, go read Kitchen Confidential and you'll understand. Mmm. Bacteria soup. So healthful. (Sarcasm friends, in case you weren't sure).

All of that conspires together to mean that I only ever enjoy hollandaise sauce about once a year.

Until now.

This particular recipe is easy peasy. Seriously! All you need is a whisk and a blender. I have never made an easier hollandaise sauce, and it keeps like a dream. You know what that means? I CAN HAVE IT EVERY SINGLE DAY. Um, until it runs out I guess. But I have a container of it in my fridge right now, ready to be drizzled over my next poached egg on hot buttered toast (hallelujah!).

You better believe I am going to enjoy it.




Easy Peasy Hollandaise Sauce with Tangerines and Lemon
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living


Ingredients
5 tbs tangerine juice (from fresh, ripe tangerines, if possible.)
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs water
5 large eggs
1/4 tsp white wine vinegar (or other white vinegar)
salt
1.5 cups butter (3 sticks, or 3/4 lb), just melted

Stuff you Need
A wisk
a small sauce pan
a blender



Method


Take your 5 teaspoons of tangerine juice




And your 2 tablespoons of lemon juice Combine 5 tablespoons tangerine juice with 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a small bowl.




Got your five eggs? Separate the yolks from the whites. I do this by straining them through my fingers. But do it however you like. And save those whites for an omelet or something. No need to be wasteful.




Combine five egg yolks in a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk constantly over VERY LOW HEAT (the lowest your burners will go), until yolks are frothy, and just starting to thicken. Remove from heat, and add 1/2 of the tangerine-lemon juice mixture to stop the cooking. Continue to whisk constantly.




Put the mixture into your blender, and add remaining juice mixture, 1/4 teaspoon vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Puree.




Reduce blender speed to low. In a slow stream, add three sticks of melted butter. If necessary, add butter in batches, pureeing on low between batches.




Drizzle over something yummy.




And look how well it stores! Still liquid and drizzleable, even when cold! See, I'm not really mean. I am so nice to you. You may now shower me with appreciation.


enjoy!

Crispy Chewy White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (gluten free! or not.)

I would like to announce to the entire world, via the internet, that I HAVE ALREADY LOST ALL THE BABY WEIGHT. Yeah me! I rock!

Well, "technically" I have 4 lbs to go, but my boobs have grown from tennis balls to small watermelons, so I think that those last 4 lbs doesn't count. I mean, 4 extra lbs of boobs isn't exactly anything to complain about. right? Women pay thousands of dollars to plastic surgeons for 4 lbs of extra boobs like this, so I'm going to call it even and say that in only 5 weeks, I HAVE LOST ALL THE BABY WEIGHT! And I have great boobs!

I totally deserve a cookie. So I made myself some.



And by the way? These cookies are excellent. What better way to reward myself than with a totally awesome melt in your mouth cookie? Gluten, no gluten, I can't even tell. You can make them whatever which way you want to.

What I like, nay LOVE, about these cookies (besides the whole oatmeal and white chocolate part) is the texture. Often gluten-free anything is texturally horrible - crumbly and dry, or gummy and wet. Same goes for oatmeal cookies (gluten or otherwise), which are often cakey, crumbly, and dry. But these cookies are nothing of the kind; they defy stereotypes. They are crisp, buttery, oaty, hearty, and chewy all at the same time.

Can't eat gluten? Maybe you have been living under the perception that oatmeal is off limits. WRONG! Recent research has shown that oats do not contain gluten. Any gluten in oats is the result of cross-contamination during growing and processing, and gluten-free oats should now be available at your local health food store. I have been using Bob's Red Mill rolled oats, and Bob? I love you so much. Thankyou for giving me oats again. I am dedicating these cookies to you. Well, that and my body's return to pre-pregnancy jeans. I love you, pre-pregnancy jeans!



Crispy Chewy White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from Cooks Illustrated

you will need this stuff:
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup quinoa flour
1/4 tsp xanthum gum
1 pinch salt
(1 cup all purpose flour can be used instead of the GF flours and xanthum gum)

1 + 3/4 sticks butter (14 tbs)
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg from a happy, free range chicken
1 tsp vanilla
2 + 1/2 cups GF rolled oats
1 + 1/4 cups white chocolate chips (use real chocolate! buy a 6oz bar if necessary)


Method:
PREHEAT your oven to 350 degrees, and mix together flours and xanthum gum


Cream together 1 + 3/4 stick (14 tbs) butter, 1 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Beat together on high until butter lightens in color (about 5 minutes). Try REALLY hard NOT to sample. Because if you do, well, you will probably start to feel sick. Not that I would know.


Add 1 egg and 1 tbs vanilla, and beat until fully incorporated.


Gently mix in flour mixture on medium setting.


Add 2 + 1/2 cup Oats.


Add 1 + 1/4 cup white chocolate chips. Mix gently together until incorporated.


Divide Cookies evenly into small balls, about 2tbs each, and set on parchment paper on a cool cookie sheet (a hot sheet will make cookies melt prematurely).


Bake 15-20 minutes, until cookies are golden. Let cool, then transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Cherry, Cherry, Quite Contrary

It may be that while at the farmer's market last week, I bought a pound of the season's first cherries. And it might be that I had all sorts of wild plans for what to do with those cherries. Clafoutis. Cherry Pie. Cherry Preserves. Sweet cherry icecream. Something tasty to share with you.

Well it might have happened that I may have had a little sample of those cherries. And it's entirely possible that those cherries were absolutely delicious.



There may have been a little snacking here and there while I tried to figure out what to do with them. I may have required a few extra samples as to ascertain the best flavor pairings. It was purely scienific. Honest.

I was really careful not to eat too many. Yes somehow they all disappeared! Only the ugly ones were left. I have no idea how. It's a mystery. Probably some cherry bandit sneaking in and gobbling up all the cherries while I wasn't looking. Yep. That's probably it. So you see, it's the bandit's fault I don't have a cherry recipe for you.



Lucky thing the Farmer's Market is tomorrow. I think I'll get 2 lbs this time. Cause, you know, that pesky, cherry-eating bandit might be back.

Roasted Golden Beet and Asparagus Salad with Baby Spinach

In the spirit of trying new things and getting out of the ol' recipe rut, I bring you golden beets.

Wait, BEETS? Seriously?

I have a sort of embarrassing confession to make relating to beets: I have never tried them. Not even once. Beets have just never been very far up on my "must-try-before-I-die" list. All of experiences with beets has been limited to the mushy, limp variety which comes in a can, and I'm sorry but I am NOT about to put flaccid purple mystery-vegetable into my mouth. I can think of approximately 500 other things on my "must-try" list I would like to have before canned beets.



Leave it to Alice Waters, she of Chez Panisse fame, the godmother of Californian cuisine and the slow-food movement, to change my mind. It seems that President Obama does not care for beets either. But Alice, well, she would like to change that. She said, and I quote, "I would like to serve him some golden beets sometime that were roasted in the oven, that were not overcooked, that were dressed with a lovely little vinaigrette, maybe even diced in a salad. Squeeze 'em with a little lime. It's fantastically nutritious."

Um, that sounds kind of good. Maybe I have written off a vegetable as bland and mushy when it is, in fact, delicious and flavorful in its fresh, uncanned, unprocessed state?




We picked these beauties up at the farmer's market last Friday. They are so PRETTY! But did they taste good? Well, when we got home, we trolled the internet to figure out how to prepare them (apparently, they taste best roasted). I was going to make a salad out of Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food, but it seems I left 1/2 my order at the farmer's market and didn't have enough. So I made this recipe up. And you know what? It was REALLY good. We were both surprised by how much we like beets. They have an earthy flavor that paired really well with asparagus, spinach, feta cheese, and a tangy cumin-yogurt sauce. I totally recommend you try them. You know, just in case you have never tried beets either and want to give them a chance.








Roasted Golden beet and Asparagus Salad with Baby Spinach, Feta, and Cumin-Yogurt Dressing

This is great "spring" food - all of these vegetables should be (theoretically) available at your farmer's market. I used rice noodles (making the dish gluten free), but if you want to use regular noodles I'm sure it will taste great too.

Ingredients
5 small - medium sized golden beets
1 large bunch asparagus
2 handfuls of baby spinach (about 1/2 a pound, or 1/2 a bag pre-packed)
1 lb rice pasta in a small shape (not spaghetti)
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup Greek or European style whole milk yogurt, plain
2 tbs white balsamic vinegar or other tasty vinegar
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 glug olive oil



FIRST - preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to boil in a large pot, and cook your noodles. If you are making rice noodles, be sure to rinse thoroughly, they are hella starchy.



thoroughly scrub the beets, and cut off the green tops (supposedly these are edible too, but the top of my beets didn't look too pretty, and I was being daring enough for one day). Place cut side down on a baking sheet and roast about 45 minutes, until beets can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool.



Cut the ends off the asparagus and cut into 1" sections. Toss asparagus with olive oil and salt and pepper on a large rimmed baking tray. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes until tender and bright green. Remove from oven and let cool.




Slip the skins off of the beets. They should tear away easily.




Slice into thin wedges.




In a small bowl, mix together yogurt, vinegar, cumin, and cayenne pepper. In a larger bowl, combine this dressing with noodles, beets, asparagus, fresh spinach, feta cheese, and dressing. Toss liberally to coat.




Enjoy!

Homemade Fresh Strawberry Jam

C

Internet, I am tired. Really, really tired. Wait, just a second - my grumpy 5 week old baby who has been fussing for 2 hours seems to have spit his pacifier out again. Be right back.

...

ok. So? Where were we? Oh, right. I'm so tired. ... Wait. OMG. He spit it out again. Be right back.

...

So. Babies? SO MUCH WORK. I think that if I can make my own strawberry jam in the middle of all this, you surely can too.




This week we finally made it to the farmer's market in our town. We had previously gone in January (hahah! Because there is SO much produce in season cum January) and were less than impressed. But THIS week! This glorious week! The booths were overflowing with the freshest, ripest, most beautiful strawberries I have ever seen. Strawberries that were just picked, this morning. If you have been buying strawberries at the grocery store, STOP. Just stop. Because the strawberries at the farmers market were sweeter, riper, softer, AND cheaper. They literally melted in our mouths. I paid 2$ a pint for freshly picked, local, certified organic strawberries, the best strawberries I have ever had. The grocery store charges $2.75 a pint for hard, sour, unripe, pesticide coated strawberries that have been shipped half-way across the country. You do the math on this one, but I think the farmer's market strawberries are going to come out ahead. Plus, more of my $ went into the farmer's pockets and back into my community to support MY neighbors, instead of going to support the huge agribusinesses.


Nate and I made strawberry jam for the first time last September. I had bought a flat of late summer berries at a discount, and they had to be used RIGHT AWAY. Jam was really the only thing I could think of that would require so many berries, so, we made some.

OMG.

Once you have had homemade jam, there is NO going back. It is just SO much better than grocery store jam. And you know what? It's really, ridiculously easy. You don't even need to can it (which, I understand, can be scary and intimidating). You can freeze it, or you can make a small batch and stick it right into your fridge. I mean, if I can do it while caring for my grumpy, feed-me, hold-me, burp-me, change-me, comfort-me newborn baby, I think you can too.






Homemade, Fresh Strawberry Jam

One of the great things about strawberry jam is that you don't need much more than strawberries and a few things you have around the house. Do you have white sugar? Do you have lemons? Do you have some strawberries? Then you are good to go! You don't even need anything fancy like canning jars or pectin.

This recipe is really just a formula - for 1 pint strawberries / 3/4 cup sugar / half a lemon. It's that simple. For the rest of this post, I am going to just tell you what I made, but if you have more or less strawberries, just adjust your recipe accordingly.





Start with 4 pints strawberries. Make sure they are fresh, ripe, and luscious. They should be ripe all the way up, with no white at the tops. It's ok if they are a little bruised here and there (strawberries are so delicate), but cut out any rotten bits, and definitely throw away any that have mold.




Wash, hull, and halve berries. Place them in a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan.




Add 3 cups white sugar.




Then add the juice of 2 lemons.




Mash it all up with a potato masher over high heat.




Bring it to a boil. If it gets foamy on top... You have FAILED. No, no, JUST KIDDING! Foaming is normal. Keep at a low boil for 20-40 minutes. You know it's done when the jam gels up on a cold surface. Put a droplet on a pint of icecream. Does it gel? It's done! (What? I don't exactly keep a cold plate in my freezer at all times).




Let jam cool. The foam will dissolve, and you can stir it in.




You can jar it, tupperware it, freeze it, you eat it right out of the pot. Whatever you do with it, I promise it will be delicious.