Monday, November 23, 2009

Roast Chicken and Persimmon Fennel Walnut Couscous

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Episode 3 is here!!

After reading Denise from Denise's Kitchen and BayAreaBites' recipe for fuyu persimmon couscous I was desperate to make it an episode. But you know how I can't possibly make things easy on myself, so I decided to also roast my first clucker. Yes, that's right, I have NEVER roasted a chicken. I was downright frightened of the whole process. After watching Julia Child's chicken episode I wasn't sure if I'd be able to manage, what with all the trussing and stuffing. Sewing a bird?! Gross.



Hair pulled back, Whole Foods fryer chicken on the board, I massaged and stuffed that little lady till she was ready for the oven. I've read on some message boards that searing the skin in pan before you roast ensures a crispy skin. INDEED! The skin was flavorful and crispy.

As for the rub, my mother has used Onion Soup mix as a rub for our turkeys for years. I figured, "Why the heck not my little baby bird?" So I rubbed it in Earthbound, salt, pepper, onion soup mix, garlic and fresh thyme. You really can't go wrong with that killer team. I made sure to cook it with the breast side down to make sure I didn't overcook the breast meat.

Chicken safely in oven, on a lid since I have no roasting pan, I set out to make Denise's couscous.
What an easy dish to make. Make sure you chop the fennel and onion small, they will integrate with the couscous grains better. Also the recipe does not specify salt, I would just add what you normally would like, I tend to do the same number of grinds on my salt grinder for every dish, don't know why but it seems to work.

The smells coming from my oven were heavenly. For the first round of basting I didn't have enough juices yet so I made some using Earthbound, bouillon and water. Worked like a charm. Subsequent bastings had enough juice, so I kept using what was collecting on my little lid. Once the chicken was brown and crispy I figured it was done. I will say this, I am buying myself a dang meat thermometer! I did ok without it but I'd rather not risk it in the future. When I took the chicken out of the pan I noticed how the onions had cooked down in the juices and had made an extremely fragrant broth.

Did someone say gravy? I can't even hear the word gravy without thinking of

Tim and Eric's Gravy Robbers sketch.

I transferred the drippings to a pan and heated them with a tablespoon of flour whisked in. The sauce thickened into what I can only call, Gravy from Heaven. This stuff was addictive. My roommate and I kept going back to the gravy pan and grabbing more to drizzle over our chicken and couscous. Mmmmm.....



I will definitely make this again. Yes it cost me about the same as buying the the one that they make in the store, that's what you get when you buy organic, but it was worth the cost to have my entire house smell like roasted chicken and to have the amazing onion drippings for gravy. I hope you give it a shot, and feel free to let me know any of your own tips on roasting a chicken the easy way.

2 comments:

Denise Lincoln said...

Thank so much for using my couscous recipe. I loved watching you make it; and now I know I need to add salt to the recipe (a little detail I seem to have forgotten). Great post and video!

Gary said...

If you ever DO have a baby, please don't do those things to it. Have a great weekend!

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