i dunno about anyone else, but i hate buying cut up chickens. i don't care how organic they say they are.
i hate them cuz i can't stand the thought of eating lots of parts of different chickens. sure, i'll buy MORE than one chicken at a time. but i'd rather hack it up on my own. and really? it's not as hard as you think. plus it's almost always cheaper, unless you buy one of those crappy loss-leader sales at the grocery mart. in which, they taste as great as the deal they sell for. which is shiite.
there's a thousand and twelve things you can do with a chicken. remember the old saying "a chicken in every pot"??? well, today, i have a chicken.
and i have a pot.
a very NICE, NEW pot, if i must add.
just an aside, i have a penchant for STAUB, and i do have *ahem* a few products of theirs. but i REALLY didn't want to spend THREE HUNDRED dollars PLUS on a nice new 7 quart RED enameled dutch oven, no matter HOW much i less than three it.
so i bought the "LOJHE" yah yah. i know, it's LODGE. but it sounds so much more fancy when you call it by it's proper french name, donnahey?
for 59.95 americanos, i've got my own self the exact replica of the 7 quart red enameled STAUB,
minus the red enamel.
plus, it's already seasoned.
so, back to my chicken...
yah. it's a chicken. and NO, this isn't actually the chicken i cooked today. it's one of my chinese beauties - from the open air meat markets i frequented, but never purchased from. they made for great pix, tho, dontcha think?
first, go turn on your oven. preheat it to 275F. pretty low, yah? well this is a low and slow cook.
then, go grab some veggies. the holy trinity (except there's four here - yes, i can count).
roughly chop them up. go easy on yourself, they'll get all mushy in the pot and no one will know that your veggies aren't all uniformly cut.
then throw them in the pot w/ a little olive oil and stir it around on a medium high heat for a few minuettes.
then add your chicken and a bay leaf or two. here's where you might want to season your chicken. use whatever you have in your kitchen. salt and pepper are a must. but i added some celery seed (if you make bloody mary's you probably have some celery SALT - use that, then just cut down on the regular salt you put on! see? no stress!)
i also sprinkled a little tumeric (for color) and a bit of paprika.
but that's it. NOTHING FANCY!!
quick, if you forgot, go turn on your oven! 275F is all you need! shouldn't take too long to heat up.
add a cup or two of liquid. water, white wine, red wine, chicken stock - the sky's the limit here!
and put the whole mess in the oven.
here's how it looks after an hour.
at this point, you can throw in extra carrots or other veggies. they'll just steam up in the liquid. you don't have to do ANYTHING to this. you don't even need to take it out of the oven to take a picture, like i did. just trust in the LOHJE!
and here's how it looks after two and a half:
DONE.
veggies are mushed. chicken is falling apart. skin is actually still crispy! now go and make yourself some sides. perhaps this calls for some mashed cauliflower and roasted carrots. or maybe a baked sweet potato.
yum...
DUTCH OVEN ROASTED CHICKEN
1 5-6 lb whole chicken
2 onions
2-3 carrots
2-3 stalks celery
4-5 cloves garlic
seasonings (celery seed, paprika, tumeric)
salt & pepper to taste
1-2 cups liquid (water, chicken stock, red/white wine)
preheat oven to 275F
roughly chop vegetables and saute in olive oil for 5-ish minutes. season chicken w/ olive oil, celery seed, paprika and turmeric. add chicken breast side up. cover. cook in 275F oven for approximately 2.5 hours. you can raise the temp to 300F if you want chicken done a little quicker, but then check for internal temp of 165F after 1.5 hours.
