Roasting chicken, making gravy and the virtues of Jon's Market

Sorry it's been a while, folks. THAT is what happens when you have to go work the 9 to 5. I did a 3 week stint in an office, to help pay the bills. But now I am free once again, and I'm back to cooking and baking. I did the usual weekly bran muffin thing, which is always yummy and totally convenient (I freeze most of them and just take one out the night before I think we'll eat it.) And, last night I roasted a chicken. Sounds not so exciting, but I NEVER do that. I just don't, for whatever reason. But this week, I saw a great deal on whole Foster Farms chickens at Jon's market (I got mine for $3.50 - ridiculous). Anyway, it was good, but the lessons learned from that were:

#1, roasting a chicken is really not worth the trouble (seasoning and generally handling a raw bird). Especially not worth it when you consider that you can get a great cooked chicken at Costco for about 5 or 6 dollars. There's not really that much good, edible meat on a small bird, so why go to the trouble? And the clean up is a lot, too. Anyhow, it was tasty, but not really worth it.
#2, don't trust the cooking times on recipes when it comes to whole birds. It took me an hour longer than the recipe called for (at 75 degrees HIGHER than the recipe called for - it wanted 325, but I knew it would probably take 375 or 400 - and it STILL took a lot longer).
#3, if you choose to put brocolli in with your roasting bird....don't. For whatever reason, it just dries out and gets crispy. The celery, onion and carrot were GREAT - soft and tender, but the brocolli didn't really work that way. I guess it would have been better just to steam some brocolli on the side.

On the bright side, the meal was pretty tasty and my gravy turned out FANTASTIC! It was really easy and for the first time, I feel like I got the right directions and it worked great. Here's the scoop for gravy...

1. Place the roasting pan with the drippings on the stovetop. don't just take the drippings out - the stuff that's stuck to the bottom of the pan is what makes the gravy taste really yummy. Pour in a little chicken stock (or if there's plenty of drippings in there already, don't worry about adding liquid. Stir it while it's heating and make sure to gently scrape up the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan (be careful when using metal utensils - make sure your roasting pan can handle it.

2. While that's gently heating, in a separate saucepan, melt some butter (a couple of tablespoons - more if you're making a huge turkey or something) and add some flour (2 or 3 tablespoons - it's loose). Mix the flour and butter to get a rue and heat it over medium heat until the butter/flour mixture browns a bit (3 minutes or so) - stirring often to prevent burning. Gradually add the sauce mixture from the roasting pan to the flour mixture, stirring constantly. It should thicken rather quickly. Stir until it thickens to your liking. Season with salt and pepper to taste and VOILA! Gravy.

An alternative to plain chicken stock...I actually boiled the giblets in chicken stock (with onions, celery, salt and pepper) for about an hour (all except the liver), then added the liver and boiled another 20 minutes or so. I then strained that mixture so only the broth was left. That's what I used to heat up and loosen the bits on the bottom of the roasting pan. Yummy - and not a bit ...Giblet-y . It's just a flavoring thing. Makes the broth savory.

One last thing I must mention. If you haven't been already (this is for LA locals only) - you must go to Jon's Market. They have the best prices on produce. It's ridiculous, really. My receipt read like this....Onions, 20 cents - garlic, 10 cents - 2 red bell peppers, $1.00 - celery, 50 cents - cilantro - 50 cents. Persimmons were on sale - 2 pounds for $100. I got a giant bag of persimmons for $1.00. They're like $1.50 per pound at the store (when they're on SALE). I usually stay away from the meat section (the meat's fine, but the other things they sell freak me out - like chicken feet and intestines and stuff) - shudder. This time, however, I ventured over there and found some good looking meat (and chicken), at really excellent prices. And their other products (every day household things, soft drinks, etc) - are not very cheap, so don't bother. Also, their spices are super cheap - great place to go for spices.

One last note for you - I used my new tortilla press to make corn tortillas. I am VERY EXCITED! It makes the whole process super easy and fun. And my tortillas look perfect. Yay for the tortilla press! (and I made some simple chicken enchiladas with the leftover chicken - best EVER!)

Later!