Roast Chicken: Or How I Learned To Get Past My Fears and Touch Raw Poultry

The Physicist and I have been enjoying roast chicken since the early years of our relationship. But my secret shame was that I was not the one making it. I could cook a mean boneless, skinless chicken breast, but when it came to roasting a whole bird, that was his territory. The thought of wrangling a whole bird, removing giblets, washing it out, patting it dry . . . *shudder*. Just not something I thought I could handle. So, at almost 7 years of marriage, I decided it was time for me to get over this fear. I'd learned to grill, why not this? The Physicist did assist me with the prepping of the bird, and I do wear food grade vinyl gloves the whole time, but I have hope that one day, I will be able to reach into that bird and pull out the giblets myself. Just not today. But here's how to roast a chicken.

You'll need:

3-4 lbs. Whole Chicken, giblets removed, rinsed out and off, patted dry

Salt and Pepper, in a small bowl

1 Lemon, halved

1 Head Garlic, cut in half crosswise

1 Bunch Fresh Herbs; Sage, Rosemary, Thyme

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil, in a small bowl

1 Onion, cut into wedges like an apple


Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Place the chicken, breast side up, into a roasting pan, or oven safe pot big enough to hold it. Tuck it's tiny little arms under it. (The Physicist: "They're wings! Jeez!") Salt and pepper the cavity, then shove both halves of the lemon, both halves of the garlic, and the bunch of herbs in. Cram it all in there, you can do it. Close the little skin flaps over it, and secure 'em with toothpicks. Brush the whole bird with the olive oil.


Then massage the salt and pepper all over, into the skin and squeeze all the onion wedges around the bird.

The whole thing should look like the picture to the left. ("You can take off the gloves now.")

At this point, you can put it in the oven, and set a timer for about an hour and fifteen minutes. It might need more time than that, but a food thermometer into the thigh should read 160 degrees when it's done.

And it should look like this! This skin should be crisp and all golden, and the smell should be mouthwatering and slightly herbaceous. Fluid, when it's pierced with a fork, should run clear.

We did it! We roasted a chicken! We can do anything! (Except remove the giblets.)

Spicy Apple Chicken with Gorgonzola Orzo

This is my "go-to" dinner, when I want to be impressive, but I just don't have "impressive" time. It is seriously the easiest thing to throw together, so easy, that tonight, for the first time, I actually paid attention to, and measured the ingredients. Normally, I just throw the ingredients in the pan. It's 15 minutes prep, and 45 minutes to bake, but it's a complete meal, not to mention low in fat. And, if I do say so myself, it's just SO yummy!

You will need:

3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (whatever comes in the package)

1 Onion

1 Apple

1/2 cup Apple Butter (from yesterday's recipe, or store bought)

1/2 cup Spicy Brown Mustard

1 cup Orzo (or other small pasta, like Israeli Couscous)

3-4 oz. Crumbled Gorgonzola (whatever comes prepackaged)

8x8 baking pan

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Slice your apple and your onion (slice your onion like it's an apple) and drop in your baking pan. Cover with your chicken breasts (clean and trim them if you have time, but if you don't care, just plop 'em on)(see picture).

In a separate bowl, mix your apple butter and mustard together. Slather the apple & mustard sauce over the whole thing, making sure to completely cover the chicken (this will keep the chicken moist). Put the baking pan in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165 on a kitchen thermometer.

About 15 minutes before the chicken is done, boil your pasta according to package instructions (usually around 10 minutes). Drain, and throw back into the pot. While the pasta is still hot, stir in the gorgonzola crumbles. The heat from the pasta should melt the cheese into a sauce.

Serve the chicken over the gorgonzola orzo with some of the apples and onions from the bottom of the pan, and plenty of the apple & mustard sauce. Done. Leftovers refrigerate and reheat very well, and I even think it tastes better on the second day. Seriously easy.

Chicken Paprikas Soup

It's fall again, and with the chill in the air, you should be planning a soup. If you're not, well . . . that's just sad. But, no worries, I have a recipe for you!

What type of soup to make is a point of contention between me and The Physicist. Most soups have a base of carrots and celery, which are two vegetables he will NOT eat. I, myself, am not fond of bean soups, so between the two of us, we eliminate most soup recipes. But, I like to think of myself as resourceful, so I picked the recipe of one of his favorite meals, and turned it into soup. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present, Chicken Paprikas Soup!

There are two steps to this, and you should do step one either a day ahead, or at least a few hours ahead. Soup is a lengthy process. So worth it, though.

Step 1:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cleaned and trimmed

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. paprika*

1/2 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken breasts in an 8x8 baking dish, and season with salt and paprika*. Pour chicken broth over breasts, and bake until the internal temperature reads 165 degrees, about 45 minutes. Let cool to room temp. At this point, put the chicken breast into a sealed container, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Step 2:

1/2 large onion, chopped

2 Tbsp. butter

2 jars of roasted red peppers (12 oz., packed in water)

1 Tbsp. paprika*

7 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup flour

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

1 - 2 Tbsp. water

3 cooked paprika seasoned chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

In a 5 quart stock pot, saute the onions in the butter, on medium low heat, until they are translucent and just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, drain the 2 jars of roasted red peppers, and puree the peppers in a blender, until smooth.

When the onions are done (see picture), stir in the paprika* and cook for another 30 seconds. Then add the pepper puree and chicken broth. Stir, bring broth to a boil, and then let simmer 15 minutes, uncovered, while you make the dumplings.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, egg, salt, by hand, slowly adding the water as needed. It should be a pretty dry dough, though elastic, and should form a ball (see picture).

Taking one third of the dough at a time, pinch off small, flat pieces and drop directly into the simmering broth (see picture).

Avoid rolling the dumplings into balls (it creates hard dumplings) or pinching off large sections (unless you're lazy or like gigantic dumplings). The size should be a pinch (see picture).

The dumplings, as they cook, should rise to the surface of the soup. Stir the soup every once and awhile, while making the dumplings, to make sure none are stuck to the bottom of the pan. Once the dough is all gone, and the soup is simmering, shred your chicken breasts, and add them to your broth.

Add the heavy cream while stirring, and let simmer another 5 minutes.

Serve hot in bowls, and enjoy!

*Paprika is a hot spice. This is a spicy soup. The Physicist likes his food spicy, so I make the soup spicy. If your palate is more tame, I recommend using half as much paprika.

Another side note: Paprikas is pronounced "paprikaSH", because the s in Hungarian is a "sh" sound.

"Obi" Wan Fan - General Tso's Chicken

As part of our week in China, I, the Physicist, made General Tso's Chicken (and Tofu). I looked at a bunch of recipes and then basically winged it. I coated the chicken and tofu pieces in a batter made from an egg, half a cup of water, about a tablespoon of sesame oil, and a lot of cornstarch. At first, I only put in half a cup of cornstarch based on a recipe by Tyler Florence, but he was sadly wrong. This batter was runny and I probably added 2-3 times that much before it was thick, sticky, and coated the pieces well. Once this was worked out, I fried everything in the wok in batches, then dumped out most of the oil and made the sauce from garlic, ginger, red pepper, chicken stock, soy sauce, honey, and cornstarch to thicken. If I did this again, I'd dump all the oil and use fresh. After frying a pound of chicken and a box of tofu, the oil was a bit brown and brought a burnt taste to the final dish. The Girl would also appreciate less red pepper than I used. This was easy to play around with, adding more honey or cornstarch slurry at the end to get the result I liked, for instance, and I think it's a great next step beyond basic stir-fry. Overall, it was tasty, but could have been better. But there's only one way to learn.

"Obi" Wan Fan - Chicken Asparagus Broccoli Stir Fry

So, I looked up "dinner" in Chinese . . . and got a translation in Chinese characters. Then, I looked up "how to say 'dinner'" and was told that it sounds like "wan fan". Hence, "Obi Wan Fan" week. (I know, we're geeks.) We were starting without many groceries, and even less time, but I quickly found this recipe at Bon Appétit, and The Physicist picked up the rest of the ingredients on his way home. Working together to chop up the veggies and chicken, it quickly came together in about 30 minutes, which was perfect. We did leave out the oyster sauce, because I wasn't sure I could handle that, but we easily substituted with soy sauce and a bit of cornstarch. It was lovely, and quick, and better than anything I could get from a Chinese food place, considering how fresh the veggies tasted. Served over some jasmine rice, it was divine. If you're looking for a fast, healthy alternative to take-out, this is the recipe for you.