Lemon Chicken with Roasted Onions and Tarragon

It's lemon time again here in the desert south west so what better way to put them to use then roasting a whole chicken and adding onions as a side dish.

INGREDIENTS:

1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 5 pounds)

3 lemons

4 small yellow onions

2 tsp dry tarragon (divided)

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock

 freshly ground black pepper

Curly Parsley for garnish

PREPARATION:

Process the dry tarrigon with a spice mill. Peel and halve the onions horizontally.

Rinse the chicken, trimmed of excess fat, and patted dry. Sprinkle the cavity with t tsp of dry tarrigon. Cut one of the lemons in half and stuff one half into the cavity. Tie the legs together with butcher's string.

Squeeze the remaining lemons until you have ¼ cup of juice.

Melt the butter in a small pan and then add the lemon juice, stirring as it is added. Add 1 tsp of tarrigon and the mustard then mix well; set aside.

Brush some of the butter mixture over the surface of the chicken. Place the prepared chicken  breast side down on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Arrange the onion halves around the chicken and also brush them with the butter mix.

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F

COOKING:

Place the roaster into the preheated oven and roast for 30 min. Pour the stock into the bottom of the roaster and spoon the vinegar over the onions. Then baste with the pan juices. Roast for another 30 min. Remove from the oven and turn the chicken breast side up. Baste with all the remaining butter mix and grind on some fresh pepper. Return the chicken and roast for an additional ½ hour or longer depending on the size of the chicken, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken thigh registers 165 degrees and juices run clear, about 1-1/2 hours total.

Remove pan from oven, and let chicken stand 10 minutes.. Arrange chicken and roasted onions on a platter. Garnish with the parsley. Carve chicken at the table. Serve with the pan juices along side.

Herb Butter Roasted Chicken

Either a whole 4 to 5 lb roasting chicken, or as we did here works fine for this recipe; In reality, we each only ate half of the piece and had the rest the following day. It’s a very tasty and juicy way to prepare a chicken with minimum of fuss.

The butchers are happy to cut a whole chicken in half for you if you ask.

INGREDIENTS:

2 halves of roasting chicken

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley

1 tsp. garlic

1 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves

¼ cup butter

¼ tsp. pepper

PREPARATION:

Thoroughly wash the chicken, removing excess fat and any waist along with the giblet bag; pat dry. Secure wings to body of chicken

Peel and press the garlic through a press. Wash the rosemary shaking off the water, strip the leaves and chop finely. Wash the parsley shaking off the water, cut the leaves from the stems and chop finely. Soften the butter in a Microwave. Then in small bowl stir together butter, parsley, rosemary, pepper and garlic.

Rub chicken with butter mixture. Place on rack in roasting pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg.

ROASTING:

Roast uncovered for 2 to 2½ hr. or until fork tender. Serve up with a sprig of rosemary as a garnish

4 servings

Chicken in Herb Sauce

There’s always the nagging question “What to make for supper tonight?” Then there’s the leftover chicken from the roast a couple of nights ago. Well let’s make a creamy herb spiced sauce and serve it over Angel Hair macaroni – this is the result. It is nice to have an herb garden to pick fresh from, but we don’t have tarragon, so dry had to do.

INGREDIENTS:

1 to 2 cups cooked chicken

1 cup milk

1 cup chicken broth

¼ cup butter

2 Tbsp flour

½ cup celery

1 tsp chives (or dry)

1 tsp fresh Rosemary ¾ tsp dried

½ tsp of fresh parsley or ¼ tsp dried flakes

¼ tsp fresh sage or 1/8 tsp rubbed, dried sage

¼ tsp dried tarragon

Angel Hair or frozen patty shells, baked

PREPARATION:

Cut the cooked chicken or turkey into ½”cubes; clean and finely chop the celery. Combine dry ingredients

Or if using fresh herbs, wash them shaking off the water, strip the leaves and chop finely. Snip chives into ¼” pieces. Combine the herbs.

Cook about 1/8-1/4 lb. of Angle hair according to directions. Or bake the patty shells.

COOKING:

Set a 10” sauté or fry pan over medium heat, when the rim is hot to the touch, add the butter. When it is melted, sauté the celery in butter ‘till tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in flour, chives, rosemary, sage, parsley, and tarragon.. Add milk and chicken broth continuing to cooking and stirring ‘till it has thickened and is bubbly. Stir in chicken. Season to taste with pepper. Heat through.

Serve over Angel Hair macaroni or in patty shells. Sprinkle with parsley and garnish with sprigs.

Old Fashioned Chicken Soup

Well here’s the real deal, my grandmother used to make it like this and now my wife does. It is as it should be – chicken soup, not vegetable soup.

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken parts (or a 3 Lb. fryer)

3 Quarts of purified water

2 shallots

2 carrots

2 Tbsp dried parsley

1chicken bullion cube

6 to 7 oz. fine egg noodles

DIRECTIONS:

First off, this recipe uses the “Unusable” parts of whole chickens. Alternately a whole fryer can be cut up and used.

On this particular occasion, we purchased three 5 pound whole chickens; had two cut if half by the butcher. At home the two split chickens were cleaned of the back bone, associated fat and skin. This along with the necks from all three chickens was added to a 6 qt. pot. The whole chicken was also cleaned with the results added to the pot. Add three quarts of purified water to the pot and set it to simmer for two hours (Actually stewing the chicken parts).

Remove the chicken parts with a slotted spoon to a plate to cool. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones; Discarding the skin and bones.  Strain the broth, skim off excess fat and Return meat to the pot.

Peel the carrots, wash and dice. Peel the shallots, leaving them whole. Add the carrots, parsley flakes, bullion (crushed) and shallots to the pot and cover. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 hour.

Meanwhile prepare the noodles according to directions. Do Not cook the noodles in the soup as it makes it cloudy and less appealing.

To serve: Put noodles in individual bowls and ladle the soup over them being sure to include the solids. A sprinkle of fresh parsley can be added as a finishing touch.

Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

Sometimes there isn’t anything better then an oven roasted chicken. Well here’s our favorite way of enjoying this delightful meal.

INGREDIENTS:

4 to 5 lb. whole chicken

6 red potatoes or 2 large All purpose.

4 medium carrots

6 small shallots

½ cup butter,

2 tsp. rosemary leaves

2 tsp. garlic

 ¼ tsp. pepper
Sprigs of fresh parsley

PREPARATION:

Wash and cut the potatoes in half, quarters if larger. Wash and peel the carrots then cut on the diagonal into thirds. Peel the shallots, leaving whole. Peel and press the garlic through a press. Wash the rosemary shaking off the water, strip the leaves and chop finely. Soften the butter in a Microwave. Then in a medium bowl stir together butter, rosemary, pepper and garlic.

Thoroughly wash the chicken, removing excess fat and any waste along with the giblet bag; pat dry. Secure wings to body of chicken. Rub chicken with one third of butter mixture. Place chicken in roasting pan. Place potatoes, carrots and shallots in the bowl with the remaining butter mixture and evenly coat the vegetables. Then spread them on bottom of pan around chicken.

Here it is carved

Pre heat the oven to 350°.

 ROASTING:

Roast the chicken, uncovered, basting chicken and vegetables occasionally, for 2 to 2½ hr. or 165-170 deg. on an instant read thermometer.

Garnish with sprigs of parsley.

4 servings

Baked Chicken Legs

Here is a simple way to prepare those chicken legs we bought a while back

INGREDIENTS:

3 chicken leg quarters, skin on.

1/2 cup low salt chicken broth

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp fresh rosemary

2 Tbsp olive oil

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Wash the legs and remove any visible fat etc. Pat dry and Place chicken skin side up in roasting pan. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Wash the rosemary, shaking off the water. Strip the leaves from the stalk and finely chop.

Pour broth over chicken. Sprinkle garlic and rosemary. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and cover

COOKING:

Place the dish in the oven and bake at 350 deg. until chicken is cooked through, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to serving dish. Pour pan juices over chicken.

Chicken Pot Pie

Well here is an old standard, reinvented with frozen vegetables that are crispier then the canned “Veg-All”

INGREDIENTS:

2 Boneless Skinless chicken breasts

1/3 cup each frozen Carrots, Corn, String Beans and Peas

2 ea 10.75 oz can condense cream of chicken soup (Healthy Request 50% less Sodium)

1/3 cup milk

Black pepper to taste

Dash of thyme 

2/3 cup Original Bisquick mix

PREPARATION:

Measure out the vegetables and let though. Wash the chicken, put it in a pot and simmer for about ½ hour ‘till done. Remove, let cool somewhat and cut into bite size chunks.

Per heat your oven to 400 F.

Mix vegetables, chicken and soup in un-greased glass pie plate, 10 inch.

Mix the Bisquick and milk with fork until blended. Then pour over chicken mixture and spread evenly.

BAKING:

While baking, it will boil over, so put the plate on a cookie sheet or such.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

4 servings

Adaptation of a recipe By George Ross