Roastin' a Chicken

I have a confession: I'm a bad blogger these days. I have so many things I've cooked/made/bought that I want to share, but things just don't make it on the blog. I'm vowing to myself that I will get better!

I was skimming through photos on my computer tonight and I came across a roasted chicken that I made last fall. Something so simple was ridiculously delicious - I just had to share.

For Christmas one year I bought Steve Tom Colicchio's Think Like a Chef - it's a great book featuring classic, delicious recipes that really focus on featuring great ingredients. His roasted chicken was exactly that: simple and delicious.

I started off with a 4 pound organic chicken from Whole Foods (people often scoff at Whole Foods prices, but you can shop there on a budget...this chicken was less than $10 and it was a couple of meals for the both of us).


The first step was to cut off the joint at the end of each wing. I've prepped a turkey before, but never a chicken, so this was new territory for me.


Turns out, the joint has a TOE on it. I'm not embarrassed to say that I jumped away from that creepy toe as fast as I could.


Since dinner must go on, so I had to go back to my chicken friend.


See the toes?! Creepy! And I have no clue what's up with the random feathers.


Once the wings were clipped and the toes completely out of site, it was time to stuff this bad boy with some rosemary.


I also seasoned it inside and out with salt and pepper.


The chicken then needed to be trussed. See how good it looks, like a happy little chicken package?

Don't worry if you don't know how to truss a chicken. I had no clue, so Steve grabbed my laptop and we found this super helpful video on YouTube.

Instead of just popping it in the oven right away, Colicchio has you brown it up on each side. I used our dutch oven which was the perfect size for our chicken.


The smell of our bird was just ahhh-mazing.


Once it was browned on each side, it was time to put our chicken into the oven. We also threw some carrots into the pot, but I think they didn't turn out very well (too dry? I can't remember).


We served up our roasted chicken with some make-shift bruschetta and homemade mashed potatoes. The chicken was incredibly juicy and the flavor of the rosemary was perfect. We made this dinner for less than $20 (including the sides), all organic and super delicious!

My Dog is a Nosy Neighbor

Charlie has recently discovered windows. With the set up of our condo, there is only one window that Charlie can look out of and actually see something interesting. Earlier this winter, he started putting his paws up on the window ledge and watched people and dogs go by.

In the past couple of weeks, he has started sitting on an ottoman that we have by the window. Yes, our dog makes himself at home on his little "chair" and spies people like a nosy neighbor. This morning while we were still asleep, he actually got up, left our bedroom and went to his window, apparently to see who was out and about at 5:30am.


Have any of your pets picked up any, err, odd habits lately?