roasted chicken: i'm not fuckin around

While I despise pretty much everything about the catholic church, I do very much like the self-punishment aspect of catholicism. That is why I usually observe lent, and this year my goal is to eat only local and organic as much as possible. I also am a little bit late to the party on reading the omnivore's dilemma...and while a lot of the info in there comes as old news, a good amount just scares the bejeezus out of me.

So I'm taking this farm-raised new york state chicken very seriously, and here's photographic evidence. Isn't it a beaut? I insisted it was "cute" and Madison insisted I've been away from my dog too long. Probably true.

I started with a whole chicken and butterflied it myself, then brined it for a few hours in rosemary, garlic, juniper berries, black peppercorns, salt, and olive oil that I ground with a pestle into a paste. I chopped up some long-island-grown potatoes, a leek from a farm upstate, and some stale organic bread and mixed these with olive oil, then stuffed the chicken with this mixture and secured it with twine.

I set the oven to 350 and set a timer for 1 hr 45 minutes. In the meanwhile Madison had finished her workday and we made fresh whisky sours from some organic meyer lemons I had purchased. When my friend Ariel arrived for dinner, he juiced some organic blood oranges and mixed in some vodka and simple syrup for our second round of drinks.

For an appetizer I made what had been my lunch, sliced bread topped with honey, black pepper, shaved raw beet and some cow's milk bleu from upstate.


And sure enough when that timer went off and I pulled the chicken from the oven it was perfect! Breast juicy, skin crispy and delicious, herb flavor permeated the meat, stuffing absorbed the juices....and I saved all these bones and fat trimmings in the freezer to make stock.

I didn't even mention the best part of the whole dinner, which was that after I returned from a night out, all the leftover dishes had miraculously been done! It was all thanks to a different friend named Ariel, whose band had been practicing in the basement and washed the dishes and glasses and scrubbed the baked-on mess from my le creuset (!) as a thank-you. Unbelievable. It's a lenten miracle.

grilled chanterelle mushrooms

it's been so long since I cooked. as you may or may not know, I broke my ankle and have been hobbling around for the last month or so, unable to lift pots and pans or stand over the stove. recently i've been feeling much better, and, faced with the threat of a snowstorm (which would have severely limited my movements about brooklyn had it been a legitimate threat...stupid fearmongering meteorologists) I decided to stock up on some good groceries and cook for the first time in what seemed like forever.

I went to whole foods on the lower east side and discovered they were selling chanterelle mushrooms for 29.99/lb. so i bought two--total cost: $6. it was worth it, trust me. I made grilled chanterelle mushrooms with fleur de sel over wilted spinach, and sourdough toast with oregano butter.

I used the same pan for everything! all i did was brush the mushrooms with a mild olive oil, heat a grill pan over medium-high, and grilled a slice of bread and the mushrooms simultaneously. When the mushrooms were tender and juicy and the bread was nicely toasted, I removed each from the heat and briefly threw on some spinach to wilt. I then spread the toast with butter mixed with oregano and salt, and sprinkled some fleur de sel de guerande over the mushrooms and spinach. the chanterelles were great! they are so delicious and mild and benefited from the slight caramelization brought on by grilling.

also, eat more oregano, and less jimsonweed.

just a note on the salt: get some good salt, people. just do it. i think a lot of people who are "bad cooks" just don't really know how to use salt (and other seasonings), so get acquainted with it! try different kinds... there are so many great varieties with marked differences in flavor. and yeah, "fancy salt" costs a lot, but it lasts a long time.

I drank a delicious glass of soave with this and then went to see teengirl fantasy and neon indian because it didn't snow until way later, and even then not very much.

also...soon I will be able to make my own sourdough bread, as I am taking a class at the Brooklyn Kitchen with Annie in two weeks. details forthcoming.