Hi! How are you all doing? Umm, I don’t even know if any of you are here and reading or will read anytime soon. ’tis the Holidays yo. To you all, who will read me much later- bon voyage, loads of warmth and goodness, and a happy new year to you. As for me, it’s been a bit of post Christmas blues and tiredness and reflections, here in trumatterland as I sit here on New Year’s Eve.
Why tired you ask? Man, even with super cheats and two extraordinary men who took charge of the sauted veggies, it’s energy sucking. Very! You think, you’d cook a soup and salad for the next 3 days and gain your mojo back? In an indian household, you will and will not get away with cooking a salad for dinner. With that salad, there should be a portion of bread, a portion of meat {preferably curried}, a portion of mother’s love and a portion of criticism. So certainly, turmeric and tiredness stays with a hint of curry leaves.
I don’t take the first prize for being the perfect homemaker. I am, to be honest, the last person who would enjoy ‘making a home’ {Whatever that means}. I am more of a boho at heart girl who loves to cook {read: throw things in the pot and they come out alright} when she is not painting things white and drinking tea kinda girl with a book or two, weaving dreams. No, really! I am not the perfect homemaker and I am not unhappy of that. Not that I, by any means, belittle this humongous responsibility of running a home. I am not capable of it, to be honest. Kudos to those who run the house seamlessly without having to remember if there is noodle at home. I am happy being the imperfect homemaker and perfect apartment gardener, part time blogger, part time chef and a full time problem child. The mister you see has OCD and needs things ever-so-perfect in his life and he is stuck with me for the rest of his life. I mean I feel sorry for him, but knowing him- he doesn’t mind. He scoffs numerous times through out the day as to how forgetful I am and this and that but I know nothing would sadden him more, to be stuck with a girl who is a perfect homemaker and can’t strike an intelligent conversation. Trust me, I know. Or so I tell myself for in a week, it’ll be 2 years of our marriage.
So, as you can see, my recipes are easy, quick to put together, uses very little and comes out with flavor that tells otherwise. Made this bird on Christmas day and thought you might want to put it to good use tonight, as the whole world bid this year goodbye. This doesn’t take too much monitoring: which means you can guzzle those wine down and yet walk out with a chicken that’s golden, juicy, beautiful and scrumptious. You can tell how much you toiled to make this- infact I insist you tell people, how you toiled to get it perfectly brown- because often, less effort transpires to ‘okay’. If you tell them you worked very hard to get this done {get in some conviction too, okay} it automatically tastes ‘fabulous’. Lol…but whether you add that extra punch or not to elevate all senses, this chicken’s a winner.
Here’s my easy, quick roast chicken recipe
Ingredients for easy chicken roast
A bird, with skin
2 tbsp butter
Freshly grounded pepper: 1 tsp
Rosemary: 1 sprig
Thyme: a pinch of. You can use dried ones.
A pinch of cumin
Chopped garlic: 2 tbsp
Lemon zest: 1 tsp
Lemon juice: 1 tbsp
How to make chicken roast
You can do it a day ahead or in the morning too if you are planning a feast in the evening.
Pat dry the bird.
Mix butter, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, lemon zest and garlic in a bowl. Divide it into half.
Take one half of the mixture, rub chicken, inside the skin. You will gross yourself out a little in this but trust me its not bad.
Rub the other half on top of the skin.
Freeze/refrigerate according to when you want to use it.
If you freeze it, you might want to give a good 3-4 hours to thaw.
Pan Fry/Oven
To give the bird a nice, golden color I pan fry it on a non-stick ‘tawa’ in 1 tsp of oil. Once you get the beautiful golden color, dunk it in the oven at 220 for 15 and then at 180 for an hour.
Check once in between: Take the pan out, ladle some of the juices from the pan on top and dunk it back.
Give it an hour, have your beer, have more also {Thats how English rolls here} and then check it with a blunt knife. You can check the sides of the bird’s thigh. If that’s done, its done.
rest for half and serve with gravy.
Have fun!