Roast Chicken Revised

Came across a couple of new ways to roast chicken that promised to keep it juicy and succulent, so I combined a few techniques last night and came up with something really good.

1. Thaw whole chicken, remove giblets. Sprinkle the chicken with salt, lots of salt (1/2 to 1 cup), or soak in brine (~1 cup salt in 1 gallon water). Leave in refrigerator for a few hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 F or so. Chop up a few potatoes and sweet potatoes and heads of garlic or what-have-you, and toss them in a roasting pan with olive oil, salt, and thyme. Throw these in the oven 10-15 minutes before the chicken is ready.

3. Mash together garlic, oregano, sage, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil to form a runny paste. Spread the paste under the chicken skin all over and smear any extra outside the skin.

4. Place the chicken on top of the potatoes in the roasting pan, breast side down. Roast for 50-60 minutes (for a 4.5-pound bird) and check for doneness.

This version makes the chicken skin a dark, dark golden brown, which was somewhat scary for this timid roaster, but the relatively fast hot cooking of pre-brined chicken didn't make the meat dry out. The timing was perfect for the potatoes and other veggies.

Roasted Lamb

Having done the roasted-Costco-boneless-lamb-leg thing three or four times now, I think I have my technique down pat (good thing, since there're two more in the freezer).

First thing is to pare off the fat layer. This is easier when the meat is still partially frozen (though not so cold that the de-boned leg can't be unfolded). I still don't know quite how obsessive I have to be about getting every last speck of surface fat, and I think I spent the better part of an hour paring the fat off the last one, so maybe next time I'll be less careful and see if everything still tastes pretty much the same.

Then the marinade. I use some combination of the following ingredients:

black olives (1/2 to 3/4 cup)
garlic (1 whole bulb)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
sage
cumin
basil
other dried green herbs

Slather this all over the meat, then fold it back up into a ball, stuff it back into the netting it came in (or tie it up with kitchen twine), and let it marinate for a few hours.

Then roast at 350 for 90 minutes or so. I usually take it out and make a cut somewhere near the middle to check for doneness.

Braised Asian Greens

Last week we got a few bunches of bok choy and tatsoi that I didn't get around to until last night. Some friends brought over an excellent and simple bok choy dish last week that I really enjoyed, but my preparation didn't turn out much like theirs. First, my bunches weren't quite as "baby" as theirs, so I separated the leaves instead of leaving them whole. Since there was plenty of dirt at the bunches' bases that didn't come out with soaking, this turned out to be a good idea.

I sauteed the leaves in a bit of olive oil over fairly high heat for a bit, then added a splash of water and a dash of salt and covered the pan. I let the leaves steam for a while, then added three drops of fish sauce, a dash of sesame oil, and a splash of rice vinegar. In deference to the chief taster's tastes, I steamed them a bit longer than I might otherwise have, and was worried that they'd be too limp, but they turned out just fine really.

The entire bag of bok choy and tatsoi turned out to be just enough for the two of us when prepared this way. This preparation is quick and doesn't mind if you don't bother to carefully measure ingredients or cooking time.