All posts filed under: chicken

How to Roast a Whole Chicken

Published by

It’s a little bit odd that this is the first time I’ve written about roasted chicken. I make it when company comes over. I make it when the Husband comes home from a business trip (it’s his favorite)! I make it for New Year’s Day, then I make it again for Easter. Really, is there anything more satisfying than a perfectly roasted whole chicken?  Golden brown, crispy skin with a perfectly juicy interior; it is comfort food at it’s finest, yet it can be a perfectly elegant centerpiece of a “fancy” dinner. Seriously, bringing a well-roasted, plump chicken to the table is a beautiful thing. It’s like the Thanksgiving Turkey without all the anxiety! The Husband brags about this chicken to his friends and colleagues, and I admit, it makes me smile…a lot! There’s no sweeter feeling than when someone you love enjoys something you’ve made so much! I learned the method of cooking this chicken from a Barefoot Contessa episode many years ago and I’ve made it so many times I could make it …

Avgolemono Soup – Greek Chicken and Rice Soup with Egg-Lemon Sauce

Published by

This week I found myself on a quest to satisfy a serious craving for Avgolemono soup (Greek chicken soup with egg and lemon sauce).  Last Monday, I stopped at my favorite local Greek cafe for an early lunch.  This little cafe, in my opinion makes the BEST Avgolemono soup and every time I have lunch there, I have to order a bowl.  But this time, I was told that there was no soup!  I was shocked and asked how it was possible that there was no soup, since the restaurant had just opened and I could see the pot of soup in the background!  “Not ready yet!” was the answer I received.  Flash forward to Saturday afternoon:  I went there again, and ordered the soup and was told “No more soup until Monday!”  “But I came in last Monday and you told me there was no soup!”, I whined.  By this time, I was starting to think that something very, very Seinfeld-ian was going on.  My hopes for soup were temporarily dashed, but then I …

Coq Au Vin

Published by

The first time I ever had Coq au Vin was during the summer semester before my senior year in college.  One of my favorite professors, who was also a gourmet cook, made this dish and shared it with me and forever changed the way I thought about food.  I remember biting into a beautifully browned mushroom bursting with red wine and feeling that I was eating my first adult meal.  I also remember wondering if it was ok for me to eat it since I wasn’t yet 21 (I was both very sheltered and very, very square in college)!  I remember how special I felt after that first bite–that my professor had thought to share such a lovingly prepared, and to my inexperienced palate, decadent, dish with me! Now I realize that the dish itself is not so much decadent, as it is classic French, rustic, country food, but was every bit lovingly made and incredibly delicious. To this day, this is how I love to cook and why I celebrate the Autumn season with …

Spicy Asian Chicken Wings

Published by

There are times when I look for any old excuse to make chicken wings:  Game night?  Monday Night Football?  A weekday ending in the letter “y”?  I never know when the craving for chicken wings is going to strike, but when it does, you can be sure that it will be for these sticky, spicy-sweet, Asian-style wings.  Today just happened to be a weeknight ending in the letter “y” and so it was the perfect excuse to whip up a batch! Unlike chicken wings from a restaurant, these wings are baked in the oven and then coated with a thick, smoky sauce that’s just spicy enough to make things exciting!  They couldn’t be easier to put together on a weeknight. I brined these wings for about an hour in a very simple brine of water, salt, lemon and garlic.  It’s not necessary to do this step, but it does add a base layer of seasoning to the chicken.  If you don’t have time to brine your chicken, you can simply season it well with salt, …

Grill-fried Chicken Wings with Tomato Salad

Published by

I bet you’re wondering what “grill-fried” chicken wings are.  Well, it was an experiment that went very right, and although I don’t normally blog my weekday meals, this one was particularly pleasing and I thought I’d share it with you.  The idea for these wings came from a pizza place that was in business here for a very short time, called Anthony’s Wood Fired Pizza. It was one of our favorite pizza places and we would go there more often for their wings than for the pizza.  The wings were simply well-seasoned with lots of garlic and topped with a mound of caramelized onions.  They weren’t bathed in sauce and there wasn’t any dipping sauce.  They were perfect just as they were.  The restaurant closed down a few years ago, but I still make these garlicky chicken wings topped with caramelized onions to this day.  I usually make the wings in a 425 degree convection oven, which makes them crispy and golden, but with this continuing heat wave, you couldn’t pay me to turn my …