What are you cooking the week of Feb 25, 2018

[RiversideLen]

Happy Birthday, Joan!

[Joan Simpson]

Thanks RiversideLen

[Mike Nolan]

Sounds like you had a happy birthday, Joan.

[Joan Simpson]

Yes I did Mike,today I made Spanish rice with bread and butter.

[wonky]

Happy Birthday Joan. Glad you enjoyed your special day!!!!!

[BakerAunt]

Happy belated birthday, Joan! Be sure to spend at least a week celebrating!

Tonight I made one of my stir-together dinners using a leftover pork chop from the three my husband cooked last night. I sautéed chopped yellow bell pepper and sliced mushrooms in a little grapeseed oil, then added the chopped pork, then the leftover mixed rice from last night, then the drippings from deglazing the pork skillet last night (used a bit of white wine and water). I added some frozen broccoli that I had briefly microwaved and a few dashes of low-sodium soy sauce. After removing from the heat, I sprinkled it with sliced green onion.

[Joan Simpson]

Thank you Wonky and BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I roasted a small chicken, not quite 4 pounds. I used a 9x13 ceramic dish (sprayed with Pam) and put a layer of small potatoes, cut in half, and baby carrots in the bottom. I rubbed them with a bit of olive oil and sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper, as well as some thyme and rosemary on them. I put the chicken on top. Following some internet recipes, I roasted it at 475F for 25 minutes, then 400F for 45. Next time, I'll start the chicken upside down, then turn it over so that the bottom gets browned. This time, I turned it over at the end for 5 minutes or so. The chicken tested done, so I put it on a platter to rest, covered, for 15 minutes. I stirred the vegetables and put them back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. They were delicious. We had steamed green beans on the side, as the market had them for $1.29 a pound--much cheaper than broccoli, which was $1.05 more per pound.

My husband usually does the chickens, and he does it at a lower temperature for longer. It just does not get the browning, and IMHO the taste. The chicken I roasted did, but he worried about a little pinkness, (It tested done.) The meat was falling off the drumsticks. I told him he could do the next chicken, but I'm going to keep looking at recipes--especially those that let me cook a side vegetable or two at the same time.

This particular chicken was not one of those vacu-sealed in a tight wrapper, but was a flatter one wrapped on a meat tray. It did not seem to have as much liquid as the ones in those tight wrappers, but then those have been frozen.

So, how do other posters roast their chicken?

[Mike Nolan]

I don't roast a whole chicken very often, most of the time I'll do two bone-in breasts, or sometimes leg quarters or thighs, depending on what's on sale and what looks good.

The last time I had a whole chicken it was one of those 7 pound monsters, so I chopped it in half and roasted half after liberally dosing it with herbs, especially rosemary, then made chicken stock with the other half and turned that into chicken noodle soup.

In the summertime, if I do a chicken I'll often do it outdoors on the rotisserie.

I have sometimes roasted a chicken on a bed of onions, I think they add flavor to the meat. I usually do it at 425 then.

For lunch today I roasted a turkey breast fillet and then sliced it up for sandwiches, this should last me 3-4 days. For supper I did a stir fry with some sirloin steak, after cutting off a 10 ounce piece, which we'll probably have on Monday. (Tomorrow I'm doing a beef tri-tip roast.)

[luvpyrpom]

Last week I had made Chinese BBQ pork (or chau siu) after marinating the pork for a few days. Had a lot of leftover so made chow mein with it. Added tons of veggies (mushrooms, bean sprouts, baby corn, bamboo shoots, bell peppers). Last night I sauteed chicken thighs (boneless and skinless) w/fresh soybean sprouts. Today made a huge pot of beef & barley chili and did a quick fry of beef tri- tip strips so I can use them with tortillas.

Joan - a happy belated birthday! Sounds like you had a fun and wonderful day.

BakerAunt - it's been a very long time since I roasted a whole chicken. And when I do, I often have to look online to find instructions how. When I do cook chicken, I'm usually cooking parts separately. I do want to try to roast a chicken eventually in a Bundt pan and see how it turns out.

[chocomouse]

I've never roasted a chicken! But I think it's time I tried. I guess it would be much like roasting a turkey, but I would serve different vegetables from those traditionally served with turkey. And, I would try cooking the veggies under and around the chicken. I have done that with chicken thighs or breasts in the tagine, with potatoes, carrots, onions, and brussel sprouts. I'll look for a chicken on my grocery shopping trip. You all are such enablers, it's wonderful!

[Joan Simpson]

Thanks Luvpyrpom,today I cooked dry lima beans,sausage and rice with tomato gravy and thin corn bread cooked like a pancake on top of stove.
When I have baked whole chicken I have a small roaster tin pan with lid,I season with salt,pepper,garlic salt,onion powder and paprika and bake it at 325-350 for about one and a half to 2 hours and when it's done I'll take lid off and let brown a little and I get lots of drippings for gravy or seasoning beans etc.I have roasted them in the crock pot same way but I take wads of tinfoil and make about 4 balls size of golf ball to sit the chicken up on and it tastes just like rotisserie chicken when it's done but that is a 6 hour cook in my old crock pot that was gotten in 1974 Hamilton Beach Crock Watcher.

[Mike Nolan]

Roasting a chicken is extremely easy, though you can make it a lot more complex if you want. Sometimes I treat the inside of it like I would a larger bird, throw in some prunes that have been soaked in brandy or rum, some apple slices, lemon wedges and almonds. (James Beard recommended this inside a goose, but it works in chicken and turkey, too.) The drippings will make a wonderful gravy.

Sides, well, that's a matter of what you like. But that's a subject for another day and thread.

[S_Wirth]

Joan...sending belated Happy Birthday wishes your way for your special day on March 1! Glad you had a wonderful time all day!

[BakerAunt]

I've roasted a lot of chickens over the years, beginning in graduate school and thereafter, until I married my husband who prides himself on his chicken roasting, which is not quite what I prefer. A 4-5 pound chicken would last me for the week. I'd eat it with sides for a couple of days, then cut it up and make some kind of a chicken dish--casserole or chicken over rice, chicken with pasta or soup--and I'd boil up the bones to make broth. In those days, they would also give us the "innards," and I would cook those up separately in a small pot and add that broth to the other broth.

With two of us, the chicken does not last that long, but I still reserve the bones--usually until I have several chickens or else those from a turkey--and make broth. Whole chickens were very inexpensive. Up until a couple of years ago, I would buy a couple when they were on sale for 50 cents a pound. It was more like 69 cents a pound on sale when we left Texas last year. Here, I don't think that I've seen under 99 cents a pound for a whole chicken. However, whole chicken legs or quarters are often 49 cents a pound on sale.

I use, and would still use, the Betty Crocker's Cookbook; my mother gave me the 1978 edition for Christmas that year. It included a table that said to roast a 3-4 pound (unstuffed) chicken at 375F for 1 hour 45 minutes to two hours and 15 minutes. I roasted it that way for years in a square oven baking dish. I've tried other recipes. A wild-rice with cherry stuffed chicken from Bon Appetit never cooked properly (that one was somewhat raw), although I tried the recipe twice, so I gave up on it.

I checked the Betty Crocker cookbook for a chicken roasted with vegetables, but it does not have such a recipe. I went online and looked at various ones, and what I did this time reflects one from a blog. (I think it is called Seven Spatulas.) A lot of recipes were "fussy," like the one where the chicken is cooked on top of the vegetables, which are then finished on top of the stove--no problem there--but it then wanted the chicken, after sitting out for 30 minutes to go back into the oven on a half-sheet pan at high temperature for browning. That seemed more trouble than it was worth.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

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