He rubbed the outside of the bird with butter, sea salt and pepper and roasted it until the skin was crispy and the meat was juicy and tender:
It was so good I had no trouble carving the legs, thighs and breasts into pieces. The meat was literally falling off the bone so I got the carcass pretty clean and SP made the leftovers into soup.
We wanted to have broccoli as one of the sides:
...but while we love roasting it that wasn't the right preparation for this meal. The flavors just didn't marry well together, especially with the Madeira-flavored gravy SP made.
After those luscious mashed sweet potatoes we had at the BBQ place over the weekend we decided to make our own at home. While these were fantastic:
...they were missing that pronounced sweet potato flavor for some reason. I added more salt to try to draw out the flavor but they ended up tasting mostly of butter (which isn't a bad thing, just not what we were going for).
Crescent rolls were on sale at the store so SP picked up a pack. It's been awhile since I've made crescent rolls so I had no idea how to separate the dough, resulting in only three or four actual crescent rolls and a lot of mismatched shapes and sizes:
They still tasted great, especially sprinkled with a little fresh chopped dill and pecorino cheese.
That is such a nice meal! It'd be a great one to have, then curl up in front of the TV with full bellies and watch an old movie. I also love how you put dill on the crescents to give them a little umph!
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are making me hungry! :) I have only recently learned that preparing a whole chicken is no big deal after years and years of breast-only chicken meals. Crazy, huh? Well, it turns out that one of my children is CRAZY for chicken on the bone (who knew?), so I've been making it more often. Yummo! Thanks for reminding me about sweet potatoes too... it is that time of year and I love-love-love 'em!
ReplyDeleteYour site rocks, btw. I've been busy but wanted to check back in with you :)
We must be on the same wavelength - we're roasting a chicken Friday night. We're actually using Alton Brown's brine recipe, which is our favorite way to do turkey. My mouth is watering!
ReplyDeleteI saw pecorino in the store the other day and thought of you... but still haven't bought it hahaha. I will though, I'm sure.
ReplyDeletethe meal looks wonderful though, regardless of the self-professed mistakes.
Abby - Hi! Haven't seen you around these parts before. Welcome. :)
ReplyDeleteI got the idea for the dill from a recipe my aunt makes at Christmas using Pillsbury breadsticks. She shapes them into candy canes and adds dill and parmesan. They're so good!
JoJo - Hehe. Thanks! I know...SP and I were talking about how intimidating a roast chicken can be for people when it's really one of those "pop it in the oven and forget about it" meals. Aren't sweet potatoes insanely good? We're huge fans and they're so good for you, too. It's nice to see you back to commenting...I've missed some of my regulars. :)
Tara - I'll have to check out your blog...I'm always looking for new ways to roast chicken.
Melissa - Everything was good but it reminded us that sometimes we need to think about what we're making so we can be sure all the flavors play well together.
I've been trying to talk some of my newlywed friends into giving roast chickens a shot. They're all intimidated by the bones or something, I guess... but seriously, how easy is rinse, dry, salt, pepper, oven, forget, serve? Couldn't be simpler.
ReplyDeleteI also love that crescent roll idea.
Laura - Hi and welcome! :)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to ask my mom for the original recipe for the candy cane breadstick things. They're so good!
This looks heavenly! And I love what you did with the crescents.
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to ask you - how do you do your roasted broccoli?
ReplyDeleteDani - I'm amazed at how popular the crescents are. I'll have to find the original recipe and post it.
ReplyDeleteTara - The recipe is RR's but here's a brief run-down: cut broccoli into florets, toss with roughly chopped garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper and then enough oil to coat evenly. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Give them a check after 10 to see how things are progressing.