There I was with hungry guests and nothing to serve them. I didn’t even have a full bag of potato chips! So I took my big salad bowl and mixed together all the odds and ends of junk food that I did have basically making my own party mix. I popped in a bag of microwave popcorn to excite their noses and tossed it all together when it was ready.

I know this isn’t terribly inventive but by serving it with the salad tongs in the bowl it suddenly isn’t just a party mix but Junk Food Salad! Surprisingly this went over really well with our party go-ers. Never underestimate the power of presentation.

Preheat oven to 360 F

Step 1-

Making a compound butter, sounds fancy but is really simple. You want to take about half a stick of room temperature butter and place it in a small bowl. Then you need to decide how you want to flavour your chicken, choose a combo of your favorite fresh herbs and seasonings. I happen to have basil on hand so I will use fresh basil, garlic, lemon zest, dried oregano and S+P. You can fine chop these and mix them into the butter by hand or use a small food processor or immersion blender to mix it. Set aside and let the all the flavours mingle.

Step 2-

Prepping your roasting pan. You will want a yellow onion, about 4 cloves of garlic, chicken stock and a rack. Cut the onions into big wedges and lay them in the bottom of your roasting pan. Smash and peel you cloves of garlic and add them to the pan as well. Cover with chicken stock and top with your rack.

Step 3-

It’s chicken massage time! Easily one of my least favourite kitchen tasks but it really makes your chicken better if you do this. Wash and dry your chicken and season inside the cavity with S+P. Next you want to take small amounts of your compound butter and slide it between the skin and flesh of the bird. The skin should lift fairly easy but it is a bit delicate and you don’t want to rip it so only go as far as you can without tearing it.

Next you want to cover the entire outside of the bird with the remaining butter. Stuff the bird’s cavity with lemon wedges garlic cloves and any remaining herbs effectively flavouring the bird from the inside as it bakes. Tie up the chicken legs or use a skewer to keep it closed, lay the bird in the pan making sure to tuck the little wings under so they don’t burn. Cover and put it in the oven. Don’t touch, peek or poke at your bird for 45 minutes. Seriously, just go peel your potatoes and let it cook!

Step 4-

After 45 minutes you should start to baste your chicken every 20 minutes or so, keep it covered between bastes. When you get down to your last 20 minutes of cooking time (should be about 20 minutes per pound plus 10-20 minutes) you should crank the heat up to 450 F and remove the lid. At this point you will need to bump up the basting frequency to every 5 – 10 minutes to keep the skin moist and to keep it from burning. You will know your bird is done when a meat thermometer inserted into the fattest part of the thigh (not touching the bone!) reads 180 F. If the skin gets too brown and crispy before it cooks through put the cover back on loosely. Remove the whole pan from the oven.

Step 5-

Lift the whole rack out of the roasting pan and place it, chicken and all, on a cookie sheet. Lightly cover with tin foil and let it rest for 15 – 20 minutes before carving. Meanwhile, carefully pour all of the juices, the onions and garlic into a small sauce pan and put on medium heat. Use an immersion blender and blend until smooth. Now you need to make a slurry, put about 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and the same amount of cold water in a small glass and mix until all the lumps are gone. Stirring your gravy slowly add your slurry in a slow steady stream. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Taste to make sure all the cornstarch flavour has cooked out then reduce heat to low until you are ready to serve your dinner. If the gravy isn’t thick enough for you make a little more slurry, just add a bit at a time because it thickens as it cooks.

That’s it. Seems like a lot of work? Maybe, but your chicken and gravy will turn out perfect every time! Trust me, if you are going through all the time and effort to roast a chicken you want it to be great.

Shopping list:

• boneless skinless chicken breast- get a family pack and freeze extras
• a bag of your favourite rice
• a big head of broccoli
• 2 yellow onions
• 2 stalks of celery
• 2 big carrots
• bulb of garlic
• eggs

Kitchen staples you will need:

• Salt and pepper
• olive oil
• butter
• soy sauce
• dry oregano
• red pepper flakes
• milk

Night 1-

1. Heat oven to 360 F
2. You will need to get your rice started, make 2 cups dry rice according to the package. The leftovers of this is going to be put away for the next night.
3. Take out as many breasts as you have people plus one more and freeze the rest for a later date. Get your broccoli, one onion and garlic.
4. Chop the onion and 2 cloves of garlic
5. Season both sides of breasts with salt, pepper, oregano and pepper flakes.
6. Heat oil in oven safe pan add onion and chicken to brown, add garlic and flip breasts.



7. Cover and move to oven for 25 minutes
8. Wash and chop your broccoli into florets and set into steamer. Season with salt and pepper. Start the pot up when you have about 10 minutes left on the chicken and it should all finish up at the same time.
9. Mix some butter into the rice and a little bit of grated cheese on the broccoli if you want.



10. Enjoy!

Save one cooked breast and all the rice you don’t eat for night 2.

Night 2 – Chicken fried rice

1. Get out your 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, onion and 2 cloves garlic. Chop and prep all of these items before you get started.
2. Get your leftover rice and chicken, 3 eggs, milk and soy sauce.
3. Heat a large frying pan or wok over med-high heat with oil.
4. Lightly beat 3 eggs and a splash of milk with pepper. You just want to break up the yolks not put air into them. Put these into your hot pan and keep them moving by taking the cooked edges and bringing them towards the centre of the pan. They should end up looking like an omelette but it doesn’t really matter if they don’t since you will be cutting them up anyhow.
5. Remove the eggs from the pan and add more oil. Sweat the veggies on med heat until they start to soften.



6. Add the rice and chopped up chicken to the pan. Add a few splashes of soy sauce and mix it all together. Taste during cooking to see if you want to add more soy sauce or pepper.
7. Once everything is well mixed and heated through add sliced egg and mix gently so you don’t break up the eggs too much.



8. Enjoy!

Boiled eggs can be used in all sorts of dishes (try my Classic Deviled Eggs recipe), unfortunately peeling them can be a little bit of a hassle. Try putting a capful of white vinegar in the water as they boil and those shells will practically fall off the eggs!

When choosing your eggs always opt for free-range. Besides being a more humane option, research available shows some increase in the levels of Omega 3 and Vitamins A and E compared to non-free range eggs. Don’t forget to check the products you buy that are made with eggs too, as many producers are switching to this more ethical option.

Jamie Oliver recently did a really moving special on the topic of chicken and hen farming. Have a look at his website for more information and to see how you can help: www.jamieoliver.com/jamiesfowldinners

Ingredients:

• 6 chilled hard boiled eggs peeled and cut lenghthwise
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• pinch of cayenne (adjust to suit your taste)
• pinch of salt
• fresh cracked pepper

Instructions:

1. Remove the yolks and set them in a small bowl.
2. Mash with a fork and add mayo and seasonings.
3. Fill the egg whites evenly, you can use a pastry bag with any decorative tip to make these more impressive.
4. Dust lightly with paprika just before serving.

These tasty little devils can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to one day.

]]> http://timetoeat.ca/recipes/classic-deviled-eggs/feed/ 1 http://timetoeat.ca/recipes/smooth-and-creamy-guacamole/ http://timetoeat.ca/recipes/smooth-and-creamy-guacamole/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:14:56 +0000 chefpam http://timetoeat.ca/?p=168 Smooth and creamy, this is the guacamole to end all guacamoles. Try it with nachos for a delicious and nutritious snack or spread it on a burger for a zesty twist.]]> Time To Plate: 5mins

Serves: 4

Smooth and creamy, this is the guacamole to end all guacamoles. Try it with nachos for a delicious and nutritious snack or spread it on a burger for a zesty twist.



Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados
• 4 limes
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 of a small yellow onion
• a handful of cilantro
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Directions:

1. slice the avocados around the stone and spoon out the goods into a deep dish.
2. add the juice of all four limes, rough chop the pepper (remove the seeds and ribs if you don’t want the spice), garlic and onion.
3. rip off the leaves from the cilantro and add that.
4. season and add a glug or two of olive oil. I use my immersion blender to get a really smooth texture, add more olive oil as needed to really smooth it out.
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