Last weekend I was going through my giant stack of non-cookbook recipes – torn out pages from magazines, printed from online sources, given to me, emailed to me, etc, etc. Plenty of them are yummy looking (obviously or I wouldn’t have kept them) but a lot of them are pasta ones or fatty-fatness ones that are no good for the beginning of bikini season!
I found one torn from a magazine that looked delicious. There is no notation printed on the page of where so I apologize to the original author of this as I can’t give credit.
Jalapeno Roast Chicken
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (packed) fresh oregano leaves
1 shallot
4 gloves of garlic
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed and seeded
salt and pepper
1 5.5 lb whole roasting chicken
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine
Now…this seemed an easy enough ingredient list. I kinda scanned the recipe too but went off the ingredient list when i went to the store. Mistake. I had half this stuff already and found the jalapeno, oregano and chicken. Nothing too hard to find. BUT…had I read the recipe thoroughly, I would have seen the need for kitchen string (wha?) I also needed a food processor and a roasting pan – I have those. But I also needed the rack for the roasting pan…doh. In Tahoe…Oh well. As it turned out, I think this allowed the chicken to suck in more moisture so was really genius on my part not to use the rack ;)
When I found the chicken at the meat counter, the outside of the packaging said “some of the giblets may not be contained inside” What do you mean by “some”? Because I want them all gone. Nada giblets. No such luck for me…
Also…had I read the recipe I would have seen the need for using my fingers to loosen the skin, but not detaching it, to spread the jalapeno paste I would be making. Ew.
Well..I had all the ingredients and I was standing in the kitchen ready to make it. So I would try this. If you cook a lot you are wondering why is any of this a big deal. Well…I can barely touch raw, boneless meat at all. I buy all of my chicken as skinless, boneless chicken breasts, all fish is filleted, all steaks are boneless and I eat nothing “weird.” If it looks like it was once living, I don’t want it. I’ll just eat rice….
So…I had to fish the giblets out of the chicken. Crap. I put on a new pair of dish-washing gloves and did it. I got grossed out and kinda wanted to cry. Yes, I’m a baby. Whatever. But it was done. Storm asked if he could help…
I can help...
Preparation:
1. preheat oven to 400. Place rack in center of oven.
2. combine the oregano, shallot (I cut up), garlic (I cut up), butter (cut in small pieces), olive oil, jalapeno (which I cut up), 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a food processor and mix to form a coarse paste.
3. pat the chicken dry and place, breast-side up, on a rack in a large roasting pan.
4. using your fingers, loosen the skin from the chicken breast, legs and thighs without detaching it. Spread half the jalapeno paste under the skin. (ick.)
5. tie chicken legs together with kitchen string (or not if you don’t have it..oops), then spread the remaining paste all over the outside of the chicken.
6. pour the chicken broth and white wine into roasting pan. (try not to drink the rest of wine as you cook ;) )
7. roast the chicken (basting with pan juices every 20 minutes and adding broth to the pan if it starts to dry out) for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
8. if there are juices in the pan, strain and pour over chicken.
I served with roasted asparagus, refried beans (if you use canned beans *Rosarito Spicy Jalapeno kind* you need to refry them yourself – not just warmed up from can in a pot or microwaved! EW! and mix in a bit of milk as you “fry” them so they are creamy but have the crisped outside as you cook them. trust me. mexican household secret from my in-laws) and warm corn tortillas that you cook with a SMALL touch of butter over a warm flat pan.
I’ve made homemade corn tortillas before and they SO much better than store bought. But did not do that today. Buy the Guerrero brand – best ones I have found unless you have access to fresh at a mexi-mart. me = not driving over the hill for tortillas….
The asparagus:
roll in olive oil so evenly covered
place on baking sheet
rub crushed garlic on the stalks
sprinkle with a dry cheese – shaved parmesan works best or mozzarella.
sprinkle with black pepper
Roast for 15 minutes at 450.
Was very, very delicious if I do say so myself (and husband agreed – huskies eat dead stuff found on the ground so their opinion is not as useful in this.) But then..I didn’t make it up or anything. I would make it again for sure. Although I would prefer if someone did the giblet removal in advance for me….thanks…
Out of the oven...
Further proof to me that if you can follow directions, you can cook. As long as you have a kitchen stocked with the basic tools. Maybe not create crazy dishes all on your own but eh – that’s why I pay a premium at restaurants when I go. And chefs are notoriously F’ed up so who needs that…
But here’s a hint…if someone just spent a couple hours of prep and cooking in the kitchen to make a nice dinner, do not complain that the carving knife set out to use isn’t the right one as you are given your one and only job of the meal. Because the carving knife can be used (and made to work even if not the “right” one) for other things…
And Storm appreciates the chicken he gets after waiting and smelling it cooking for so long :)
YUM! More?
