Comfort Food

Tonight I made my first whole roasted chicken and I used Ina Garten's recipe called The Perfect Roasted Chicken. I've been hearing how easy this recipe is and how it's foolproof and it's also A-MAZE-ING! I've been craving roasted chicken and potatoes and vegetables lately and this HIT the spot! The recipe is simple and you need only a few ingredients!

courtesy of the Food Network and Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken (Organic Free Range)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
Olive oil

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

Chopped Vegetables and Potatoes in my beautiful cast iron pot (that I lugged around for 3 blocks)

• I followed the recipe to a T. Well, almost. Here are some changes I would make:


• Add more vegetables, I like a ton of veggies with it and I would add an entire bag of carrots and also another onion.
  
• Less salt. I was mega liberal with the salt and it was just a tad too salty


• More Thyme inside


• Whole Garlic Cloves with the veggies


• I added Red Roasting Potatoes to the veggies too-turned out awesome

Here, after carving and with the jus from the bottom of the pot:

It was just a tad salty (which was my fault) but OMG the juiciness of the chicken and the taste, oh the taste! Is it lunchtime yet-I'm excited to eat these leftovers!

The health factor of this dish-well its already healthy. There isn't anything to substitute. Probably the butter, but it's only a tablespoon-ish on the skin to make it crispy, and you can remove that.

As a side I made Smoked Pimiento and Cheese Grits. Hello new favorite dish! When it's tweaked a little better, I will post the recipe! (and sorry for the blurry picture, Joey was bumping my arm-she went CRAZY for the chicken!)

And I couldn't complete a meal without dessert!!

Array of mini desserts from Whole Foods: Petite Vanilla Cheesecake, Petite Fruit Tart, Carrot Cake, Cannoli, Mini Vanilla Cupcake (perfect size!)

Now, get to cooking people!!

Live-in and I spent Saturday biking around NYC and Staten Island (don't go) and it was just amazing-like I was a kid again! NYC Summer Streets is here every Saturday where Park Avenue was closed from 72nd to the Brooklyn Bridge from 7am-1pm. It's refreshing to see all the bikers, runners, walkers, skaters instead of cars!

See: (yes, I took this picture while riding and it was hard!)

This is the bike I want! Jamis Commuter 2 in Pacific Blue, just in case!!

Get out there and get busy!