Saturday

[ksmith]

Decided I would have Sunday’s roast chicken today. Once again, I used the splayed method from this NYT article, except that instead of a 12-inch cast iron skillet, I’m using a 12″ stainless steel casserole–the thing looks like a saute pan sans handle, and worked a treat the first time I made chicken this way.

This time, I went for it and set the oven to 500F. Stuffed the bird with homegrown tarragon and thyme as well as a quartered lemon. Used 1 teaspoon salt for a 6-pound bird–that’s much less than the cooking sites recommend.

A half-hour in, I added chopped onion and fennel, along with a few stalks of celery.

The Swiss chard that bolted in late spring has long since coughed up its seeds. Lately, it’s been putting forth branches studded with bunches of small, tender leaves, which are perfect for salads, saute, or in today’s experiment, tucking into the roast chicken juices for the last five minutes of cooking. I also added some baby bella mushrooms because, well, I had them on hand.

The verdict? I could have added a little more salt. Maybe two teaspoons. A tablespoon would have been waay too much. I also think the celery was a mistake. It added a little too much liquid, which made for a thinner sauce. Still nice, but since it soaked into the lower half of the chicken, that part was more braised than roasted. OTOH, drumsticks that cooked in a broth made from chicken juice, onion, fennel, thyme, lemon, tarragon, and a shot of rosé are drumsticks that turn out pretty damn tasty.

I also think the elevated temps are taking a toll on the casserole. It’s a Cuisinart Pro, which is really nice, heavy-duty stuff. But 500F is the limit, and the outside of the pan has turned a bit iridescent. It’s my starter set of cookware–at some point I will take the plunge and treat myself to a set of All-Clad or Viking–so I’m not too worried. It’s just something to note. If anyone out there has seen the same thing happen to an All-Clad or other high-end brand of stainless steel pan, let me know.

In other news, it’s the first day of autumn. The morning was damp and windy, but as the day went on, the sun emerged and temps warmed a bit. I hung the seasonal wreaths–silk and plastic leaves and berries–on the house and garage, shots of gold and orange amid the dull green foliage and cream color house. The pups spent most of the day outside, and Gabbers is still lying out on the lawn. King is inside because 1) he smelled the roasting chicken and 2) it’s closing in on puppy dinnertime.

The hardware big box that I dropped by today already had Christmas decorations out. Halloween still 6 weeks away, and the fall decorations were already the secondary display. Not ready.

And Saturday is winding down. Not ready for that, either.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Comments

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

Chicken looks gorgeous and delicious. I'd probably have chopped the leaves (or some) from a celery bunch, not the ribs, for the reason you mentioned--but then I also like celery in such mixed broths, so I might have left it in.

I haven't put my All-Clad baking pans to a 500F test yet...my instinct says that if you really want something to take repeated very high heat, go cast iron. Heavy as old sin, but it won't do anything but get really hot and stay that way a LONG time. (When we've accidentally left a cast iron frying pan in the oven when pre-heating the oven, we take it out and put it on the back step--concrete--to cool itself down.)

I'm mostly recovered from the wasps, though hand is still swollen and discolored, and the other arm itches like crazy. The other stings are sore red lumps. Did manage to ride NewBike a little, after the bike shop pronounced it OK. I like the sitting-up posture; my neck doesn't hurt. However, pedaling's harder on the soft ground.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I need to get the 12" cast iron frypan. Personally, I'm not crazy about cast iron--I have trouble keeping it seasoned, and I always feel that it is never really clean. But it's the only thing that can take repeated exposure to 500F.

So sorry about the wasp attack. I disrupted a nest when we lived in Florida, but only a couple of wasps came after me. They hit me in the shoulder. Stung like hell, but the pain didn't last and I didn't notice any swelling. My wasps were kinder than yours.

Congrats on NewBike. Looking forward to the Naming.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Checked the Lodge website, and saw that they now offer seasoned steel as well as cast iron. I am going to phone them and ask a few questions--do they measure 12" across the top or bottom, is repeated exposure to 500F doable, etc. Depending on the answers, I may go with the seasoned steel. Otherwise, I'll go with the CI.

[technomage.livejournal.com]

Beat me to the cast iron comment. I own family CI, seasoned by years of deep frying, it could could almost anything and not rust or stick. Recently bought two Lodge dutch ovens in medium and OMG sizes for use both at home and camping. Love them.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

OMG, that looks good.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The drumsticks/thighs were incredible--moist and tender--but the breast meat was a tad dry. I left it in about 10-15 minutes too long, mostly because I had added too many veggies and the onions had not yet turned the lovely pale gold color that would indicate that the sugars has caramelized. They never really got there.

It was still good, though. And it always looks a picture--you could serve in the roast pan as long as you reminded guests to mind their fingers because HOT.