Best Laid (Birthday) Plans

 

The plan was to have a lovely brunch in a favorite restaurant with family for my birthday. But Covid happened. (Daddy-O has it but isn't too sick, thankfully.) So we were home alone and I cooked my own birthday dinner. Good move on my part. This was so good. And because there was the tiniest bottle of bubbly rosé in the refrigerator left from last year's wine advent calendar, it felt like a felt like a celebration!  I've wanted to try this recipe for a while and I had a chicken in the fridge. Jessica made this here a few weeks ago and told me she makes it almost every week because it's easy. She's right.

This is a "do what I say, not what I do" photograph. I should have tented the chicken with foil sooner, but it was fine. That's the seasoning that got so black, not skin that burned. I'll try the avocado oil next time and see if that makes a different. You're seeing my real cooking, train wrecks and all. Look at the next photo.

Oops!

Working too quickly, I managed to split the wrong side of the chicken ALMOST the whole way through. This dinner was only for the two of us, so I just flipped it over and cut out the backbone. It cooked just fine. Not exactly a photo worthy finish, but since I cut the chicken into pieces and put them on a platter to serve, no one would have been the wiser if we'd had guests.

Cooking boo boos happen. But food is so expensive now, you need to be okay with figuring out a fix. Meat still tough after it's cooked? Chop it up and serve it on sandwiches or over rice. The classic "fix" is crumbling up a cake that stuck to the pan and layering it with pudding and/or Cool Whip to make a trifle. The big trick is NOT to tell anyone that the "fix" wasn't your original plan. 

This really isn't a recipe as much as a starting place for you to cook this dish. Jessica says she's used all kinds of seasonings, but really likes this one. She likes golden potatoes. I had red potatoes on hand. She said sometimes she mixes the seasoning with some oil and rubs it under the skin and rubs plain oil on the outside. If she's feeling extra decadent, she mixes the seasoning with some cold butter for the under-the-skin rub.

ROAST SPATCHCOCK CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES

1 whole chicken, about 3-1/2 to 4 lb

Red potatoes, cut into large chunks

3 or 4 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

Olive oil or avocado oil

1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1./2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Preheat oven to 425º. Line large sheet pan with foil. Mix dry seasoning ingredients. 

Remove giblets from chicken and pat dry. Using sharp knife or sharp kitchen scissors, remove backbone from chicken. Pat the inside dry. Open chicken up and lay it out flat, skin side up on sheet pan. (Google "how to spatchcock.")

Toss vegetables with a little oil and add to pan around chicken. Sprinkle some seasoning over veggies.

Mix a little oil with some seasoning and rub under the skin. Rub outside of chicken with oil and sprinkle rest of seasoning over the bird.

Roast, uncovered, for about an hour. (Smaller bird may be done sooner.) If the chicken is getting brown too quickly (or the spices start to burn), tent with foil.

After it comes out of the oven, let it rest a bit before serving. I cut mine into the normal chicken pieces and placed on a platter along with the vegetable. Jessica pulls the meat off the bones and serves it that way.

My weekend was not what I planned, but it might have been what I needed. I spent the day digging deep into my messy laundry knitting/sewing room, sorting and tossing out and even finishing up projects that were so close to being done. I listened to a book while I worked. I watched some Christmas movies while I worked on a new knitting project.

I woke up this morning and felt good when I looked at the neat laundry room. Daddy-O is beginning to feel better. Life is good.

UPDATE: Before I hit the "publish" button for this post, I got sick. Hopefully sunny days are just around the corner. I'm taking time off until after Thanksgiving, then I'll regroup and see what I have to share.