Nigella’s Party Chicken

Believe me when I say that this post will make a lot of men happy. When my husband bought me Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities yesterday, I wasn't sure if he was buying me a present or succumbing to his own needs with this voluptuous collection of recipes to get through the holidays.

Turn to page 96 of the cookbook and you will see an embarrassingly easy recipe of Party Cornish Hens,  I chose it for today’s lunch. But with a plump whole chicken. I have retained Nigella Lawson’s ingredients, except for the Cornish hens, but changed the measurements to suit my chicken.

Ingredients for Nigella’s Party Chicken are:

1 whole chicken (about 1.5 kg)
One-fourth cup olive oil (She also suggests the chile oil option)
One teaspoon ground cinnamon
One teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon sugar
1 head garlic, cloves separated, keep unpeeled
1 lime, halved and cut into wedges
Salt

Preheat oven to 375°F. Make a dry rub with the sugar, cinnamon, paprika and salt. Rub the whole chicken with it, getting the insides coated well.

Sit the chicken snugly in a baking tray. Pour the olive oil over the chicken. Tuck the limes (you can use lemons too) and the cloves of garlic around and in between the bird.

Cook the chicken for one hour and 15 minutes, till the juices run clear. I start with the face down first and turn each side, giving about 15 minutes to all the four sides. I end with the breast-side up.
Serve the carved chicken with the charred pieces of lime and garlic cloves. I did some quick potato wedges too.

Nigella suggests some couscous salad too. Here are a few couscous salads I have done in the past. This one with fresh parsley, or this one with baby arugula, shrimps, etc. Or try this Moroccan-inspired couscous salad, which looks rather festive too.

Thank you, Goddess of Easy Extravagance. I am all set to make my man happy with your time saver recipes this December.

Oven-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

There is nothing more fun than the times someone else cooks for you. This time it was my obedient oven.

I usually make oven-roasted chicken when all my other dinner ideas run dry. Its healthy and wholesome and doesn't need much supervision either.

I will first list out the ingredients for my chicken roast and then the steps.

Ingredients for Oven-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables are:

1 whole chicken, skin on, without giblets (about 1.5 kg)
Unsalted butter
Half teaspoon dried rosemary
Half teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper powder
Salt

1 medium red onion, cut into quarters
Handful of green beans, halved
Baby potatoes, skin on and halved
2-3 carrots, diced
Cloves of garlic

You can even use mushrooms, cauliflowers and seasonal root vegetables.

Truss your chicken. We don’t want Miss Chicken spreading her wings and legs while she is being roasted. That’s very unbecoming of ladies!

Mix the butter, dried herbs, pepper and salt. The idea here is to get under the skin of Miss Chicken. Take little portions of the rub, with your fingers, find edges, nooks and corners under the skin of the chicken and gently rub the butter mixture on. This will keep the chicken moist.

Once the insides are nicely stuffed, rub the same mixture all over the chicken from the outside.

Make a bed of vegetables on your baking dish and place Miss Chicken on top!

Pre-heat the oven to 425° F. I start with my chicken chest down, back up when I am roasting. Once the oven has fired up a bit, I reduce the temperature to 350!

I keep turning the sides after every 15 minutes. The idea is to get the breast side up when I finish. Its as if Miss Chicken is experimenting with different sleeping positions!

It takes about an hour and change to finish roasting the chicken. Poke a fork in the chicken to see if the juices run clear, that’s the sign of a cooked chicken. The melted butter and juices from the chicken will add a lot of flavor to the bed of vegetables.

Let the chicken stand for about 10 minutes before you carve and serve.

I served my oven-roasted chicken with the juicy vegetables and slices of fresh bread.

Fishful Thinking

Seeing the sun out makes me cook happy food. While I was satiated with my share of Vitamin D, it was time to think about dinner. Some easy-to-cook and beautiful-on-the-eye food which cried out the colors of summer. Even if it was only 9 degrees outside.

Plus its always a nice change when someone else does the cooking- my oven!

I came up with mildly marinated Atlantic Salmon Steaks which were broiled and served with Garden Greens drizzled with some Blue Cheese. I got these huge, succulent salmon steaks which I marinated for a few minutes with only lemon juice. Just before transferring the fish to the oven, I added a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper and some salt to taste. Drizzled it with some EVOO. All this on a baking tray lined with aluminum sheet.
I broiled the steak on the top shelf of the oven on high for 7-8 minutes before turning on to the other side. Fish tastes like rubber and become dry when you overcook. So Keep checking frequently.
While the fish was cooking, I quickly sliced some red and green bell peppers, red onions, seedless cucumbers, and hot-house tomatoes. Alongside, I julienned some carrots to plate with the fish, colors to match the salmon!
The salad dressing was again a simple mix of lemon juice, black pepper powder, freshly chopped coriander and some blue cheese.
That was our Friday night fishy dinner! Tender, golden in color, and perfect to dispel the last leg of winter, and go out for a very important date with Alice in Wonderland.