Citrus-Thyme Roasted Chicken

Roasting a chicken in the summer is usually not on the meal list. But, this version that is stuffed with lemon, orange and fresh thyme is a wonderful break from the BBQ.

7 -8 pound locally raised chicken
15-20 sprigs of fresh parsley
3 carrots (peeled)
2 celery stalks
1 large yellow onion (skinned and quartered)
4 cloves of garlic (peeled)
1/4-1/3 cup of butter
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock or water
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First, rinse your chicken and pat it dry with a paper towel. A dry chicken will encourage that beautiful browning on the skin.

Take 3-4 sprigs of thyme and take off the leaves. Mix the thyme and butter. Also, make a vegetable rack on the bottom of the roasting pan for the chicken to sit on. This is made up of the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and remaining thyme sprigs. (keep 3-4 for the inside of the bird) Set the bird breast side up on the veg rack.

The rack can be seen on my Perfect Roast Beef post. The rack will give aromatics to the bird and also will keep it from sitting in the juices in the bottom of the pan.

Separate the skin from the meat on the breast side with your fingers but keep it in tact. You can separate the entire piece of skin. Next, put the butter and thyme mixture under the skin and close it up. The butter and thyme will give your chicken an incredible flavour burst.

Wash and quarter the lemon and orange and stuff them and the remaining thyme into the cavity . The citrus fruits will steam into the meat through the cooking process. This will leave the meat with a slight hint of those  orange and lemon flavours and will also keep the meat moist.

Truss the bird if you like and put the stock or water into the bottom of the pan.

Drizzle some olive oil over the breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the bird into the oven for 20 minutes per pound or until a thermometer reaches aproximately 80 degrees.

Take the chicken out of the oven and cover it with tin foil. Let the chicken rest for 20 minutes. This is called tenting and you should do it with any meat you cook, whether it be a full bird, steak or chicken breast. The tenting process is a very important part in keeping the meat moist. When  you take meat out of the heat, the juices are flying around inside the muscle and they need to slow down and redistribute back in the meat. If you cut into the meat before tenting and letting it rest (20 mins for a roast and 5-8 mins for a small cut of meat) all of the juices will end up on the plate instead of in the meat.

Once the bird has rested, carve it and enjoy.

You could make a sauce out of the pan drippings with a little bit of white wine and orange juice. Pour the liquid into the pan and add a sprinkle of S&P and some more thyme. Stir to get the bits off of the bottome and then simmer to reduce for a few minutes. Finish your sauce with a squirt of lemon and a pad of butter. The butter will give shine, richness and body. Pour the sauce over the carved chicken.

Serve with summer vegetables. I used new potatoes and carrots with fresh dill.

Irish Stout Stew

Irish Stout Beef Stew

3-4 lbs of beef cut into 1’ cubes
4 onions (large dice)
4 Carrots (small pieces)
2 lbs of small white potatoes (cut in half)
1 baker potato (grated)
1 can tomato paste
1 liter beef stock
500 ml stout
3 bay leaves

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. This is the perfect temperature to simmer liquid in the oven.

Start by cutting your meat into 1 inch cubes. This should be a cut of meat with lots of connective tissue. This will break down and give body and flavour to your stew. Use a cut of meat that gets used a lot. The more a muscle is used, the more connective tissue, and the more flavourful. I used an outside roast, but chuck would work even better. Also, take some time to dry all pieces, as this will help in the browning process later.

 Prep your vegetables. Make sure to cut all vegetables into uniform pieces, about 1 inch thick.

Heat a Dutch oven with about ¼ - ½ inch of veg oil in it on the stove top on medium high heat. This will look like a lot of oil, but you will be draining it off later. Once your oil is hot put in one, uncrowded layer of beef. Do not put too much beef in the pot because it will not caramelize effectively, it will just steam and that will make for unflavourful and tough beef. You will have to brown the beef in batches. Once a layer of beef is browned on all sides, you can remove it from the pot, put it into a bowl and cook another batch. Take time to really brown each side of each piece of beef. This will give immense flavour to your stew.

Once you have browned and removed all of your beef, drain most, but not all, of your oil.  There should be lots of brown bits in the bottom of your pot. This is where all of the hidden flavour for your stew is  so don’t get rid of it!

Put the onions into the Dutch oven with a sprinkle of salt, cook until soft. The onions will pick up lots of the brown color and flavour from the leftover beef bits. Once the onion is softened and starting to brown, put in the can of tomato paste and cook for a minute or two to enhance the flavour.

Pour the beer and beef stock into the pot. The beer should be a good thick stout. Lagers and ales will not work here because they just don’t have the intense flavour to stand up to the big flavour of the beef. Guiness is ok, but something even darker and more stout-y should be used here. I used  O’Hara’s Irish Stout because it is very dark and full of flavour.

Grate the russet potato into the stew using a box grater. The potato will melt into the stew over the cooking process and the starch from the potato  will take the place of corn starch or flour to thicken the stew. Add the carrots, potatoes, and bay leaves to the stew.  Stir to combine and cover and put the stew into the oven and cook for 3 or 4 hours.