Roast chicken
Jul. 12th, 2006 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamadebTuesday nights are my "nights off." Jonathan goes to his weekly talmud shiur (class) in Manhattan, which means he has dinner with his parents first. He gets a ride home with his teacher, who lives a block or so away from us, and gets back around 11PM. I go to a local fast food place or have pizza (all figured into the diet now) and spend the night on the computer or watching television (and knitting, lately.)
Yesterday afternoon, I decided that I wanted to make my own dinner. I'm not one for cooking for myself, but we'd gotten take-out the night before and anyway, I really, really wanted roast chicken. Not chicken pieces, no matter how nicely flavored, but whole roast chicken because that's entirely different. We'd had half a game hen at the wedding, with a bit of rice stuffing under the skin of the breast, and the dark meat was fine, but the breast was dry.
I thought about getting a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket deli, since I was hungry and didn't want to wait, but they were out. And I thought about going to my favorite take-out place and getting one of theirs, and then I realized I could have a perfectly legal snack (low-carb/low sugar ice cream cone) and cook the chicken properly. Ialso picked up some potatoes and some frozen spinach because, well, real meal, but no work = good.
The chicken itself was easy, too - I cleaned it and coated it with freshly ground pepper and cooking spray and slid it into a 450F oven. I did the same (except for the pepper) to the potatoes. And then I went on line and watched tv and knit for about 75 minutes, at which point I could smell the chicken. The thermometer said it was 180F, which is what I was aiming for. I took it out, and let it sit while I nuked some spinach,and then I cut a breast quarter. It was perfect - tender, flavorful, juicy. I wanted more, but the diet wouldn't allow.
Jonathan came home at about 10PM (class ended earlier) and sat down to the same dinner, except that the leg quarter he ate was room temperature - and it, too, was perfect. We're eating the rest tonight. I won't desecrate it by reheating, but cold chicken and mixed veggies will be very nice.
Yesterday afternoon, I decided that I wanted to make my own dinner. I'm not one for cooking for myself, but we'd gotten take-out the night before and anyway, I really, really wanted roast chicken. Not chicken pieces, no matter how nicely flavored, but whole roast chicken because that's entirely different. We'd had half a game hen at the wedding, with a bit of rice stuffing under the skin of the breast, and the dark meat was fine, but the breast was dry.
I thought about getting a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket deli, since I was hungry and didn't want to wait, but they were out. And I thought about going to my favorite take-out place and getting one of theirs, and then I realized I could have a perfectly legal snack (low-carb/low sugar ice cream cone) and cook the chicken properly. Ialso picked up some potatoes and some frozen spinach because, well, real meal, but no work = good.
The chicken itself was easy, too - I cleaned it and coated it with freshly ground pepper and cooking spray and slid it into a 450F oven. I did the same (except for the pepper) to the potatoes. And then I went on line and watched tv and knit for about 75 minutes, at which point I could smell the chicken. The thermometer said it was 180F, which is what I was aiming for. I took it out, and let it sit while I nuked some spinach,and then I cut a breast quarter. It was perfect - tender, flavorful, juicy. I wanted more, but the diet wouldn't allow.
Jonathan came home at about 10PM (class ended earlier) and sat down to the same dinner, except that the leg quarter he ate was room temperature - and it, too, was perfect. We're eating the rest tonight. I won't desecrate it by reheating, but cold chicken and mixed veggies will be very nice.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-12 05:49 pm (UTC)(And it took me till this year. *facepalm*)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-12 06:22 pm (UTC)It's more figuring out when it's okay to reheat, I think.