At Least the Kitchen is Warm

Winter finally found its way here to The South.  I have so few opportunities to cook cold weather food and I love it when I can.  My oven has been going a lot in the last few days: banana bread, pumpkin custard, granola, and roasted chicken.

I love roasted chicken and I would eat it it every day if I could.  Unfortunately the Daddy Monkey disagrees with me on this one, so I don’t make it as much as I’d like.  To me, it is the ultimate comfort food.  Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so.  Remember that scene in Amelie when the man roasts the chicken and he has a look of absolute pleasure on his face when he takes the first bite?  British cookbook authoress Nigella Lawson agrees, “You could probably get through life without knowing how to roast a chicken, but the question is, would you want to?”

There is nothing simpler and more satisfying that roasting a whole chicken and making a little roasted root vegetables on the side.  A quick pan sauce when the bird comes out makes the whole thing delicious.  I like to drizzle a four pound chicken with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt, pepper, and herbes de provence.  I roast it at 400 degrees for about an hour and a half to two hours.  When there’s about an hour to go, I throw in the veg.  I usually do a mix of whatever is on hand: chopped red peppers, potatoes, and carrots are usually included. The whole thing is drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  Last night I made mashed potatoes and honeyed baby carrots with dill because that’s what I had.  They were delicious.  I love it when improvisation actually works, and it seems that no two roasted chickens are ever the same.

There’s probably only about five or six weeks of winter left down here.  I’d better get in the kitchen and start cooking.

P.S. Speaking of chicken, I’ve spent many hours in the kitchen searching for the perfect chicken soup recipe and I think I’ve finally found it at Alicia’s blog.  That lucky gal has a man who cooks soup for her when she is sick. I had a cold last week, and unfortunately some of us have to cook our own soup.