dinner with friends

Another way we enjoyed our past week was eating with friends.  A few impromptu dinners, including the following with my favorite roast chicken and potatoes.  We were using what we had on hand in the fridge and in the garden (my favorite way of cooking).  A little theme of lemon, parsley, and rosemary made for a family of dishes.  A delicious, refreshing salad of fennel, celery root, and parsley - modified by what we had available, worked well with a salad of treviso and butter lettuce.  I am finally moving out of my simple salad rut - which is perfectly timed with the coming of Spring veggies.

We have been digging up the delicious spring potatoes; and this medley of red, yellow, and blue ones was fabulous.  I cooked them loosely based on a recipe from Zuni Cafe.  Cut up and boil them until just tender, then toss with olive oil mixed with garlic, salt, and rosemary mashed in a mortar and pestle.  Put on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast in the oven at 425 or 450 for 20-35 minutes, turning half way through.  Yum.

I haven't roasted a chicken using this, one of my favorite recipes, in a long time.  The recipe (below) is from Michael Bauer in the SF Chronicle cookbook.  It is such a simple, delicious way of making chicken, and the gravy is amazing.



Rosemary Roast Chicken with Onion-Garlic Gravy

1 whole chicken (about 3½ pounds)
1½ tablespoons olive oil
4 medium onions, cut in large chunks (3 really large onions will do)
1 lemon, cut in quarters, seeds removed
2 fresh rosemary sprigs (about 6 inches each)
8 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1½ cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (yes, I mean 450).

Remove and discard the giblets, rinse the chicken, pat dry and remove excess fat from around the tail area. Rub the chicken inside and out with ½ tablespoon of the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper inside and out.

Stuff the cavity with about ½ to 1 of the chopped onions, 2 wedges of lemon, a sprig of rosemary, and 4 garlic cloves; close cavity with toothpicks to keep veggies inside.

Use a bit of the remaining olive oil to grease the bottom of a glass baking dish. Place the remaining onions and garlic in the dish. Drizzle the remaining oil over the onions.

Place the bird breast down on the onion mixture; squeeze juice of another quarter of the lemon over the chicken. Roast for about 20 minutes per pound. Check the onion mixture; if it starts to blacken or stick, add a bit of the chicken broth.

After 30 minutes, turn the chicken breast side up and add ¼ to ½ cup chicken broth to the onion mixture. Return pan to the oven and roast until the meat in the thickest part of the leg just loses its pinkness. Add a bit more of the chicken broth if onions start to dry out.

Remove the chicken to a platter. Scrape the onion mixture into a medium sauce pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the leaves from the remaining rosemary (discard stem) to taste. Squeeze in the juice of the remaining lemon quarter. Puree with a hand blender or in food processor, adding remaining broth if the gravy is too thick. Bring pureed mixture to a boil to meld flavors.

Cut the chicken in serving pieces and serve with the gravy.