The Whole Bird

Oy vey! For the past week I have had migraines about every other day. OK one day and the next day I just lay as still as I could in bed. Yesterday I saw the doctor and it's just like a migraine except different :) I guess the location of the pain is different though the pain is just as intense, or at least I assume so. I've never had a migraine before. So now I have a some pills, we're treating this as sinus related and I have a cat scan on Monday. And she's a new doc to boot.

So with all of that, I have cooked very little. I was supposed to make this dish last Thursday but then I burned my glaze, I got pissed off and said screw it. Friday Dinah was out so Rose and I ate on our own. Saturday was full of pain. Sunday was recovery. Monday was back to pain. So Tuesday I did it.

I made a roast chicken with mushrooms and potatoes. I also made creamed broccoli. I'm willing to admit that this was the first time I have ever tried roasting a whole chicken. And it will probably be my last time. I did it. I've done it. I'm a T&A man. Except when it comes to chicken, it's all T. I only like chicken thighs and since you can buy them with skin on or boneless, why should I buy all the rest of the chicken which I don't eat. And I can't carve a chicken to save my life. Mine didn't have thighs. I think it was a Chernobyl chicken.

If you are so inclined to follow along, the recipe is here.

What made this dish special was the mushroom and potatoes. Naturally I couldn't find shallots here where I live, so I used a yellow onion. In hind sight, I used to much onion. Oh well. I soaked two ounces of dried porcini mushrooms in water, washed and chopped up them up. This went into the skillet with the onion and some Marsala wine and cooked down until the onion was soft. The potatoes were steamed in a skillet and then opened up to cook down. Mine burned to the bottom of the pan but that happens with non-stick cookware. A little soak in the sink and no worries.

Meanwhile.... I took the mushroom and onion mixture and stuffed the bird with it, trussed the legs and tossed the whole shebang in the oven. It cooked for an hour or so I think at 425. The chicken came out of the oven looking amazing and perfectly browned. I was stunned. If only I hadn't burned the damn glaze.

Out of the chicken drippings I made a pan gravy with some flour and vinegar. Seemed strange but it did work with the mushrooms. To serve, combine the mushrooms and onions with the potatoes to make one dish. The gravy you can spoon on to the potatoes or the chicken or both!

It was good, but not that good. Like I said, I'll just buy thighs in the future.

The broccoli on the other hand was a winner. I mean how can you go wrong with broccoli and Parmesan cheese? It's a pretty straight forward recipe and I even took a few shortcuts. I'm not sure I spent more than 20 minutes on the whole dish. Enjoy!

Now let's see if we can tolerate some music or if my head will explode.