March 12: Dinner: Roast Chicken, Kale, Salad

Yesterday was indeed a cooking frenzy.  While preparing, photographing, eating and writing about lunch all day, I was also making dinner.

I was planning to go a 7 pm yoga class--which given the problems of eating before class (digestion too slow--I'd have to dine at noon--but the noon meal had already been attended to) combined with the negatives of eating once I returned home (I've now learned that the main reason for "early bird" specials is not just the bargain prices, but the fact that as we get older--oh why weren't we warned about this?--eating late can keep us up into the wee hours)

Nonetheless, despite these problems, I'd decided that this was the class for me, and since a chicken was ready to go--waiting patiently in the refrigerator with all that rapidly aging produce--even if I do think of it as meal for company--what could I do but roast it?   Worst case scenario:  I'd have left-over chicken for several days.

Enhanced Chicken with Lemons

Inspired by cooking Marcella's Hazan's classic chicken with two lemons at Hilda and David's in San Francisco last week in its more or less original form, I decided to go with the enhanced version which appears in this picture, while the  actual  recipe can be found under the alias of Roast Chicken with Lemons.  (I'll straighten this all out one of these days, but for the moment--if you want to make this chicken, go to the above link, for the simpler version--stay right here:

The lemons are buried deep within the pictured chicken, but you can see there is a lot more going on.  I'll ignore the mis-nomer for the moment, but to either confuse or clarify, here's the original recipe from Hazan's More Classic Italian Cooking 1988.
ROAST CHICKEN WITH TWO LEMONS
One whole chicken (the recipe says 2 1/2 pounds, but they all seem bigger nowadays.
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 whole lemons

Pre-heat oven to 350
Wash chicken.  Remove fat.  Drain out water for about ten minutes and dry thoroughly inside and out with paper towels then rubbing  inside and out with salt and pepper.
Rinse and dry two lemons.  Soften them by rolling them in your palms a bit--then using a fork or trussing needle or whatever, puncture them all over so juices can run out.
Put lemons in cavity of chicken.  You can then sew it up -- I tend to use a couple of toothpicks to close the bottom and tie the legs together with some string.

This chicken miraculously cooks without any additional oil or fat.  Place it breast side down in roasting pan in upper third of pre-heated oven.
After 15-25 minutes--when it is starting to brown--carefully turn it over--if it doesn't lift easily--let it cook a bit longer to release more juices.
Cook another 20-30 minutes--it should be browning nicely--then turn up the heat to 400.  The skin should be nicely browned and puffed up when done--test by wiggling thighs, or making sure juice from thighs is running clear.  And you are done.

Again, this is not the chicken I cooked yesterday--but I've cooked it many times and it is completely delicious.  And--if you are feeding vegetarians as well as chicken munchers--better to make this variation and roast vegetables in a separate pan (they're not as delicious without that chicken fat--but this is the price vegetarians pay).
The chicken, as pictured, was done about 3pm--and I might have guessed, I couldn't resist a few mid-afternoon nibbles.

When I left for yoga at 6:30, I'd assumed I would just eat a bit on my return after 8pm.

But, sometimes it is true that if you cook it they will come.  Much earlier in the day, I'd decided that I would go to that 7pm class which was taught by Cory.  I hadn't seen her the many months of my absence, but dropped a note telling her that I was in the throes of massive food preparations and if she was free she could join me for dinner after class.  I hadn't heard back, so assumed that wasn't going to happen.

As it turned out, Cory, after an excellent and exhausting class was ready to come for dinner.  We had the chicken, with its accompanying vegetables--potatoes, carrots, onions and celery the kale with mushrooms, which I'd barely made a dent in at lunch, and a salad--greens with goat cheese, tomatoes, roasted and raw, and the cucumber and radish mix also from lunch.  It was all a treat--and for me the bonus was that Cory, was also an excellent cleaner-upper--although we didn't finish eating until quite late, the kitchen was sparkling when she left.

And--after all that eating and cooking, there are still enough left-overs to sustain me (and maybe even a guest or two)  through a few more meals.