Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Culinary Adventures, à la Julia Child



This morning I roasted a chicken, following the instructions in a lovely book I found at the library, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. It's a great reference for making classic French dishes. Today I tried the roast chicken, and my goodness! It tasted heavenly, full of flavor and very moist. Here are the basic directions.

Baking time:
15 minutes at 450 degrees, then--
30 minutes at 350, plus 7 minutes per pound

Wash chicken rapidly in hot water, then pat dry. Season inside cavity with salt and pepper (adding anything else you like--lemon slices, onion, apple, herbs, etc.). Salt all over and rub the chicken with soft butter.

After 30 minutes in the oven, strew 1/2 cup each onions and carrots (both chopped) into pan.

This made enough for us to eat for lunch with vegetables and biscuits. There's also 2-3 cups of shredded chicken meat, and I used the bones and remnants to make a fair amount of chicken stock. I could have deglazed the pan and made gravy, but decided to use the yummy bits in my chicken stock.

And, as Julia would say, "Bon appétit!"

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