Chicken Day!

What we’re making: Oven Roasted Chicken, Chicken Stock, Curried Squash Soup, Creamed Spinach Casserole with Nutmeg

On a snowy Tuesday when I’m stuck in the house, I like to spend the day busting out the long-form meals which require more dedicated cooking time than my usual “it’s cold so chili” routine (made with frozen chili starter, the subject of a future post).  With a total cook time of about six hours, this is truly a full day in the kitchen but the middle four hours are pretty hands-off.  I start around 11am.

Part I: Chicken Day Begins (11am)

·        Remove your chicken from the refrigerator and allow to rest on the counter for a half hour to an hour

·        Next, preheat the oven to 425 F.

·        Find a large plate – big enough to fit the chicken – and pour in some olive oil and spices.  I use salt, pepper, garlic powder and tarragon.

·        Set out a shallow glass roasting pan large enough to fit the chicken and still allow some space on the sides.

·        Unwrap chicken and drain excess blood (remove giblets if included); pat dry.

·        Dredge the chicken in the oil and spices and place in the pan.

·        Roast uncovered for 1.5 hours (11:30am - 1:00pm). When done, remove the pan and tent with foil so that it can sit for twenty minutes before carving.

Part II: Stock Vegetables

·        Two or three large carrots, tops removed and sliced in half lengthwise

·        Two or three stalks of celery, cut in half (if they’re long) and then sliced in half lengthwise.  Keep the leaves for the bouquet garni.

·        Half of a medium onion, quartered

·        Whole head of garlic, halved and smashed.  Remove the peel where practical but don’t worry about picking it apart.  NB: Unless you have a second head of garlic available, set aside a few cloves for the spinach dish.

·        Two or three leeks, ends and dark green parts removed and sliced in half lengthwise

·        Herbs: whatever’s available fresh.  It’s the middle of a snowstorm, so I only had access to parsley.  Wrap the herbs and celery leaves in cheesecloth (or a steeping bag, available at Bed Bath and probably elsewhere).

·        Ten peppercorns. Or more.

Part III: Chicken! (1:00pm)

·        Remove the chicken from the oven and turn the oven down to 350F.

·        Tent the chicken with foil and let it sit for 15-20 minutes.

·        Take out a large stock pot and a second shallow glass pan.

·        Once rested, use a meat thermometer to ensure that the internal temperature of the chicken is 180F.

·        Carve the legs, thighs, breasts and wings from the body and set in the other shallow glass pan. 

IF THE CHICKEN DOESN’T LOOK DONE INSIDE: Put the two pans back in the oven, uncovered, at 350F for 20 minutes and check again.  If the chicken is definitely done, turn off the oven until squash o’clock, also known as 4:00pm.

·        Remove the bones from the legs and thighs – if the chicken is done, the large bones should slide out easily.  Regarding the wing bones, I recommend just eating the wings right away because hell yeah chicken wings.

·        Hack the bones in half so that the marrow is exposed. 

·        Place all of the bones and the carcass into the large stock pot, cover with cold water and place on the stove top.

Part IV: Stock! (1:30pm)

·        Bring the pot of water and bones to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to a steady medium simmer.

·        Simmer for a half hour, scraping the foamy fat with a spoon every ten or fifteen minutes.

·        Add the vegetables and bouquet garni and repeat the scraping procedure.  After the first hour of cooking is done, I only check it every half hour or so.

·        After the first hour (2:30pm), remove the carcass to a plate or pan and pick off any remaining meat.  Set this aside for use in chicken soup.  Return the carcass to the stock pot.

·        After an hour or two (any time between 2:30pm-3:30pm), remove the herbs; gently squeeze any remaining liquid from them using the back of a spoon.

·        Continue simmering all afternoon – stock should cook for at least 3 total hours (1:30pm-4:30pm), until the liquid is reduced by at least half from the starting point.  Look at the lines left on the inside of the pot to guess how far it’s decreased.

Part V: Squash and Spinach Setup (3:45pm)

This time of year, squash is abundant.  Unfortunately abundant.  If you’re like me, you are already months past the point where you never want to eat another squash again.  Having said that, today’s squash was spaghetti squash – the most “let’s get this out of the way” of all the squashes, in my opinion.  Meanwhile, spinach is also abundant this time of year and looking great… better ruin everything healthy about it by covering it in cream sauce.  Oh well, at least we’re finally plowing through that squash.

Squash

·        Starting with one large squash, cut off the stem and bottom, then cut in half lengthwise.  Remove the seeds and membranes with a large spoon.  Preheat the oven to 350F.

·        Place the squash halves face down in a shallow glass roasting pan – unless you have a large pan, you may need two smaller pans.

·        Pour some water into the bottom of the pan, enough to keep the squash moist over an hour, uncovered in the oven but not so much that it will make the squash overly mushy… maybe a quarter-inch.  I look in the window a half-hour through cooking to see if I need to add more water, and I usually don’t need to add more.

·        Bake uncovered for an hour.

Spinach

·        Wash and spin dry a lot of spinach… as much as you have.  Just use a whole ton of spinach because it will reduce in size upon sauteeing.

·        Dice the other half of the onion and a few cloves of garlic.  Set aside.

·        Take a stick of butter and 1.5 cups of milk out of the refrigerator and let sit on the counter.

Part VI: The motion! (4:45pm)

Creamed Spinach Casserole with Nutmeg

·        Take out a square glass roasting pan.

·        In a sauce pan, melt ¾ of the stick of butter and combine with about 6 tablespoons of flour, whisking constantly for four or five minutes until a beautiful, nutty golden brown color.

·        Throw in the diced onion and garlic and continue to whisk for another minute.

·        Meanwhile, in another pot or pan, melt the remaining ¼ stick of butter.

·        Start combining the milk with the roux and vegetables, whisking constantly.  At the same time, sautee the spinach in the other pot/pan. 

·        After four or five minutes, pour the sauce (now the consistency of gravy) into the pan and fold in the cooked spinach with a little ground nutmeg.

Curried Squash Soup

·        Remove the squash from the oven (it should have cooked for about an hour at this point) and put the spinach casserole in the oven.  Bake uncovered at 350F for a half hour.

·        Strain the stock through a mesh strainer into a large glass bowl.  With the spinach pot largely clean, pour 3 cups of the hot stock into this pot.

·        Scrape the cooked squash into the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

·        Remove the squash from the liquid to a food processor and run for about 10-15 seconds, enough to make the squash into a thick, very occasionally chunky mush.

·        Return the squash to the pot and stir in curry spices, then a little milk.  Simmer for another 15 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to the point that you have soup and not squash-plus-liquid.

Gently-Reheated Roasted Chicken

Warm up the chicken in the microwave at power 3 or 4, for 2 ½ minutes or a little longer if necessary.  Turn off the oven and the stove and serve dinner!

Dinner: approximately 5:20pm.

A note about stock: I recently read a great tip about cooling stock in the garage this time of year.  I wish I could remember where I saw it, but it's a great way to save refrigerator space.  Cover the glass bowl of stock with plastic wrap and let cool in the garage overnight.  Scrape the fat layer off the surface and freeze or, if storing in the refrigerator, use within a week.

Beets on Beets

What we're eating:

Oven

• Roasted beets and garlic
• Half loaf of sourdough bread

Pan

• Beet greens

Table

• Cheese (Raw buttermilk blue, nutty cheddar, drunken goat)
• Berries (Strawberry, blueberry)

Extra Items:

• Tomato
• Knob onion
• Frozen Stock Cubes: Strain chicken stock into a large bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove the layer of fat and ladle stock into ice cube trays.  Cover trays and freeze; keep frozen cubes in trays or remove to another container, using wax paper to separate layers.

Preparation

1. A Large Glass Roasting Pan with Lid.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Slice a head of garlic horizontally and keep intact; place in a sheet of aluminum foil, rub the exposed portions with olive oil and close the foil around the garlic.  Place in pan.  Wash and pat dry beets, remove tops and bottoms, rub with olive oil and place in the pan.  If onion is available, add using the beets procedure. Fill the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of water.  Place on the lid and bake for about 40 minutes.
2. Clean Greens.  Wash the beet greens and spin dry.  Remove the leaf from the stalks, gather into a bunch and cut the leaves into thick (1") strips.  Set aside.
3. Table Setting.  Wash fresh berries then remove stems and let dry.  Select and place out cheese.
4. Motion!  When the beets and garlic are almost ready (about 40 minutes in the oven), place the loaf of bread in the oven and heat up a pan with olive oil.  Sautee the beet greens in the oil on medium-high heat for a few minutes - they should wilt but remain wet - and add one frozen stock cube.  Reduce heat to low.
5. Retrieve the Beets.  Turn off the oven and remove the roasting pan and bread; cover the bread with a towel until ready to slice.  Place the beets in a bowl and remove/discard their skins.  Cut beets into halves, thirds or quarters and toss with a very small splash of red wine vinegar.
6. Serve Dinner: Beets on Beets.  Place the garlic into its own bowl and set out a discard bowl for the skins.  In a wide, flat bowl or on a plate, spoon a mound of beet greens from the pan and top with the roasted beets and onions.  Cut a tomato into eighths and throw two or three into each bowl.