First, let me wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and hopefully we will all make it through the numerous turkey dinners, platefuls of mashed potatoes, and yes even pumpkin pie. There is nothing like a festive holiday to unleash the little piggy in us all. But wait a tick, why do we need endless amounts of turkey? or mashed potatoes? BORING. Sure there are the die-hards, and I’m sure one of your meals ( your own family, in-laws or communal gathering) will feature said meal. I have two coming my way :0! But if you have options, perhaps a quiet dinner for two or some friends, why not try a roast chicken or Cornish hens. Come on, grab your tea, sit down and let’s discuss this!
A four pound chicken will easily feed 4 people, or try 4 small Cornish hens. If you can’t find fresh then check the freezer section of your local grocer. Thaw in the fridge. The Cornish hen is famous for never drying out, it is always juicy and delicate in flavour. Prepare one per person.
For either roast chicken or hens, prepare them as follows:
- Heat oven to 425 F. Remove any giblets or packets from inside the birds.
- Rinse birds inside and out, and pat dry.
- Allow brid to sit for 10 minutes to come to room temperature for better roasting.
- Season inside bird cavity liberally with KOSHER salt and ground black pepper.
- Stuff cavities of birds with 3-4 cloves of garlic, and a good sprig of thyme.
- Rub bird with room temperature butter ( a couple of Tbsp ) and a few Tbsp of fine quality Dijon mustard. Maille is a great brand.Please do not use prepared “ball park” mustard, go without if you don’t have a good dijon.
- Tie legs of bird together with butcher’s twine.
- Place chicken into roasting pan, and roast for 55 minutes. Alternatively,place hens into pan, leaving ample room around them to brown and crisp, for 35 minutes. They should all read 160F on a meat thermometer when placed into thickest part of thigh on the birds.
- Remove from oven and let reat for at least 15 minutes
Ok people, DO NOT let the delectable brown bits go to waste. Place roasting pan over stove top heat, and deglaze with chicken stock and/or white wine, and add a dollop of butter.
Carve chicken and serve hens all with pan sauces on a platter of:
- roasted root vegetables
- roasted shallots and pearl onions
- sauted swiss chard, rapini, or kale.
- roasted potatoes or yams. ( these could go right into the pan with the chickens with roasting. MMMM…
There are many different options.
When dinner is done, take the chicken bones, place into a large stock pot with 1 onion diced, 2 carrots diced, 1 celery stalk, a handful of parsley, a few cloves garlic, a sprinkle of whole peppercorns, bay leaf, a half an apple. Bring to a boil, reduce heat immediately, and simmer for two hours. Remove from heat. Cool. Strain. Done. You now have Chicken stock for hearty soup this fall.
Hope these tips help. Have a great weekend everyone, and remember what Arnold Schwarzenegger said:
“I love Thanksgiving turkey. It’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.”