Carrots in the Kitchen

I tried this recipe a couple of months ago, and it's definitely going in the cookbook. I got it from www.allrecipes.com, and tweaked it a bit to include stuff I like.

I'm going to record what I did here, but I'll record it the way I did it, which doesn't include things like measurements or firm ingredients. I'm just awesome (aka lazy) like that.

Here's the important stuff you need:

- a 3 pound chicken, thawed (that part's important, learned the hard way)
- a 450 degree preheated oven
- various veggies (I used carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes which sound odd but were soooo delicious, onions, celery, that kind of stuff. Basically what's laying around and what sounds like it'd be good)
- some white wine (totally out of the glass I was drinking. Then I promptly refilled the glass. Priorities!)
- some veggie stock
- a bay leaf (worth investing in a bottle of these; you may not use them that often but they come in super handy_
- whatever spices are in the cupboard (I think I used oregano, sage, salt and pepper of course, a bit of paprika, maybe some garlic salt, I don't really remember. I just grabbed stuff. And some chopped rosemary from the dying plant in my kitchen window)
- about a handful of butter (yeah I said handful)

While the oven's preheating, rinse and pat dry the chicken.

Chop the veggies into roughly 1.5 inch cubes, I suppose. Something like that. Cut a bit of each thing small so it can be stuffed on the inside (the onions are most important here, along w/ some of the celery and carrots. Don't bother with the potatoes).

Melt the butter in the microwave.

Here's the gross and fun part - dump the spices into the butter so that they're mixed in there. Then, coat the chicken with the spiced butter. I guess you could use a brush or something, but I just kindergarten-style did it with my hands. Lots o' slippery fun. Wow, that sounded dirty.

ANYWAY.

Stuff the bird with the veggies you cut up small, some of the herbs (whatever you want, but things with a stronger flavor go better for this) and the bay leaf.

Lie the chicken FACE DOWN in a roasting dish. Surround it with the chopped veggies, and pour some wine and vegetable stock in until you have about an inch of liquid in the bottom. Cover.

Cook for 20 mins at 450 degrees.

Lower oven to 400 degrees, and cook for 40 minutes. When there's 10ish minutes to go, uncover and flip the chicken so the breast side is on top. This makes it get nicely browned, while cooking it face-down all that time will keep the breast meat juicy.

All done! On Martha Stewart's website, she has a tutorial on how to carve a turkey that's amazing, and that I use whenever I make any kind of bird.

The veggies are the side (of course), and the chicken'll be tender and delish. Also, it's super cheap! A 3-lb chicken is around $7, and a lot of the rest of the stuff is either cheap to buy, or already probably in your kitchen.

Give it a go, it's healthy, yummy, cheap and fast. All the things a good recipe should be.

Happy Thursday! Tonight I'm trying Salmon Fingers. Mmm.