Roast Chicken with Herbed butter recipe

8 Tablespoons of butter

2 Tablespoons for chopped dill, tarragon, chervil or any other herbs you want in combination

Salt and Pepper

1 Three to four pound chicken

½ Cup of white wine or water (plus more if you need it)

Optional

Chopped parsley, or whatever herb leaf you want, as a garnish

1 Clove of garlic

How to Make

            You should first start by pre-heating the oven to about 450 degrees Fahrenheit. From there you should combine the butter with your selected herbs, plus some salt and pepper. You can use a food processor, a fork, or whatever you feel comfortable using to combine them, but note you only need to use half the butter. This is a lot easier if you soften the butter in a microwave first.  Now you should separate the chicken skin from the meat to get the butter-herb mix in there. Do not try to separate all the skin, just where you can, you do not want to tear any of that wonderful stuff. You may also want to spread some in the chicken cavity as well as on top of the breasts (seasoning with more salt and pepper of course).

            You should now put the rest of the butter in the pan you are going to roast the chicken in, and place that in the oven. Do not put the chicken in yet, we still have at least one or two more things of prep work to do. Once the butter has melted, if you are using the ingredients, you can add the garlic clove (smashed) and the white wine to the pan. I like to put some celery stick and pieces of carrots down on the bottom of the pan to create a natural rack, but you can do what you want here. Either way, place the chicken in the pan, breast side down and roast for about 20 minutes. After that you should turn the chicken over and spoon some of the butter in the pan over it. After about ten minutes, the chicken should be starting to turn brown (roast for longer if this is not the case), from there you should baste it again and turn the heat down to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. After that, take the chicken out and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then serve.

Reaction

            Chicken is a really nice base protein to work with, simply because it can absorb a lot of different flavors. Combine this with the excellent flavors that fresh herbs can bring to a dish and it is a winning combination. The herbs, I found, mixed well with the flavor of the butter, and since I chose to use garlic in this, made the chicken that much better. There are a few ingredients in cooking I swear by. One of them is garlic, and the flavor it brought here was tremendous, so I highly recommend using it in the butter and the sauce. And as a side note, I would not limit this herb butter to just this dish.

            As anyone would expect, using such ingredients as butter and herbs, the chicken absorbed the flavors wonderfully. If you watch the chicken enough, and cook it right the meat will be moist and juicy, adding its own flavor to the mix. But as with most roast chickens, the start of the show was the skin. Crispy, crunchy and full of wonderful, herbed filled, buttery flavor, there was nothing to dislike other than there only being so much to eat. And considering that it locked in that flavor for the rest of the chicken was an added plus.

            Overall, this was an excellent dish. It is not a full stand alone meal, however, as it does not provide enough to be eaten solely by itself. Some boiled green beans would easily be best with it, as well as some rice. In the end, if you have the time and patience with this dish, it will come out great.

Simple Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

3+ strips Bacon (optional—if you don’t want to use bacon, be sure to add cooking oil to the pan before adding the chicken)

3 Boneless Chicken Breasts/Thighs

½ Large Onion (Diced)

2-3 Carrots (chopped)

½ cup Snow/Sweet Peas

A good amount of shredded Cabbage

Stir-Fry Sauce to taste (preferably Szechwan, but whatever you like will work)

Optional:

1-2 stalks of Celery (chopped)

¼ cup nuts (Peanuts, Walnuts, whatever you like)

Mushrooms (as much as you like)

How to Make:

                Slice the Bacon into small strips about a quarter to half inch wide each, and cut the chicken into about one inch cubes. You then are going to want to heat a Wok, or whatever sort of large wide pan you have. Do not bother oiling it; you are going to cook the bacon first, so there is no real point, as the bacon will release a lot of its heavenly grease, which is exactly what we want. Once you think the bacon is crispy enough, remove it so it does not burn (do not worry as we will add them back later, remember: burnt bacon is inedible, which is unacceptable). Now add in the chicken, and let that just cook for a few minutes until all cubes are a nice brown color (not golden, just not raw on the outside).

                Once the chicken looks nice, add the onions. This will notch up the flavor, as the onions will add their own touch to the bacon and chicken while taking both of those in. Once the onions are looking translucent, add in the carrots. Even with the bacon grease and extra moisture from the other ingredients, the carrots can stick and burn, so you might want to watch them carefully. If you want, this is when you can also add in the celery, mushrooms, or whatever vegetables you like. When you are happy with how the carrots look, add in the cabbage along with some seasoning (pepper for sure, but I also add in some chili flakes and garlic sea salt for a little more flavor) and let it reduce for a while. Once that looks nice and translucent, maybe with a little char, add the bacon back in to let it get some more flavor. Once you stir the bacon back in (plus nuts, if you want them), it is time to add the Stir-Fry sauce. The Szechwan has a bit of a kick to it, so add as much or as little as you like, just make sure you taste it first so you do not destroy the other flavors. I added about a couple tablespoons, and that worked fine with how much I had in my Wok. Once that is done, serve!

Reaction:

                I have always been a bit of a believer that the simplest things can come out the best (the Michelin guide recommends, so…). And I was surprised as to how well this came out--everything that had a lot of flavor retained most of it, while those that did not absorbed a great amount of the levels of flavor. Plus, with the amount of time I let the vegetables reduce down, the cabbage (at least) still had a little crunch to it, which was a nice change in texture. I swear by onions, I love the flavor they bring, and I was a little disappointed as to how much their individual taste was muted. But as I started to look for the flavor, I noticed that it had taken a much more subtle taste throughout the dish, which I was more than happy with.

                The Szechwan sauce was also a nice touch as it added a small little kick on the back of your throat and on your tongue. This was a nice change from the salty, savory taste of the bacon, chicken and onions, adding a little more depth. What I liked most about the amount I added was that it was far from overpowering, as when someone I knew could not take spicy food well tried it and really enjoyed the small kick. I should note that if you like eating something made with a massive amount of spice, make it with a lot of spice, but sometimes a small kick adds just a huge amount of depth. If you want just a little more flavor (like I did) it could not hurt to toast up some sesame seeds and sprinkle them over the dish, giving that toasty, sesame aspect to the dish, which really worked well.

                Overall, I was pretty happy with this little experiment that I really just made up on the fly. And what is best about it is that it can be changed around, added to, some things removed, and it can still work. That is what I enjoy about a stir fry, it is simple, easy, and can taste really good. Just goes to show that simple things can be excellent.