Saturday, March 27, 2010

Pass it On: Week 1 Roasted Chicken


Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef (FYI, that's a lie, he's not naked, unfortunately) has recently invaded the US and is starting a Food Revolution. In the UK Jamie has helped rehab the school lunch program and he's bringing his talents to the States in an attempt to overhaul our (national) lunch programs. He's got a show on ABC (it airs Friday nights, check your local listings) called Food Revolution that shows exactly what he's attempting to do.

The show takes place in a small town in West Virginia in a town that's been identified as the "most unhealthy place in the world" based on CDC statistics. I've only seen the 1st episode of this program so far but it was very powerful. Poor Jamie, I don't think he really knew what he was getting into - this town has NOT welcomed him. In fact they are quite hostile towards him and his ideals. The saddest part of the show for me was when he brought a bunch of tomatoes into the lunch room and asked kids what they were. No kids could identify fresh tomatoes. One child got close, calling them potatoes. Close but no cigar.

In addition to rehabilitating the school lunch program Jamie has a "Pass it on" pledge: he will teach 4 people how to cook a dish. They in turn will teach 4 more people. Those 4 will teach 4 more, and so on. Megan at Tomato Tots had a brilliant idea, since so many of us bloggers are equally passionate about healthy foods, cooking and teaching others how to do the same, why not start our own Pass it On program? I LOVED the idea and I'm proud to be a part of this great plan.

Megan owns a few Jamie Oliver cookbooks and she's graciously agreed to host the Pass it On program by selecting one of Jamies recipes and showcasing it on her blog. Anyone who wants to play can then make the recipe with in a week of its posting and blog about it.

This week is our first week, and its a good one folks -- Roasted Chicken! I was tickled pink to see that the Roasted Chicken was this weeks recipe as I had a whole thawed bird in my fridge that I planned on cooking that night anyway! Woo hoo a new recipe to try out! And I got to teach my sister how to cook this meal, so I've already passed it on to 1 person. And now my loyal blog readers, I pass it on to you!

Roasted Chicken
adapted from Jamie Oliver
Makes 1 whole chicken, 8 pieces
1 whole roasting chicken about 3-4 lbs
1 lemon
1 bunch fresh herbs like rosemary & thyme (I used dried as that's all I had)
1 head garlic cut in half
3 stalks leeks (original recipe calls for 2 onions, however I had leeks that needed to be used up)
6 carrots (original calls for 2 but I have a carrot obsessed little Witch to feed)
2 stalks celery
Kosher salt & pepper
EVOO
FOR GRAVY:
1 c white wine
3 c water
3 T flour
S&P

Preheat oven to 475.

Cut the veggies into 3 inch long hunks, roughly. Put all the veggies into the bottom of a dutch oven.



Rinse chicken, remove giblets and discard (or use if that's your thing). You can truss your bird if you'd like. Sprinkle chicken with 2 teaspoons kosher salt on all sides, including cavity.



Prick the lemon all over with a fork and put it into the cavity of the bird. Add small fresh herb boquet into the cavity as well. If you're using dried herbs sprinkle them on top of the bird and throw a few inside too. Put the chicken on top of the cut up veggies, add 1/2 c water to the bottom of the pan. Drizzle the bird with EVOO.

Put the chicken into the oven and lower the heat to 400. DO NOT COVER. Allow chicken to roast for 1.5 to 2 hours (it took longer at my altitude, and I had to cover it at the end to bring it up to temp as the outside was nice & golden but it wasn't done...grr) adding a slash of water as needed to keep veg from burning.

Once chicken is cooked through (160 for the white meat, 180 for the dark) remove it from the pan, cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes before carving.



GRAVY
In the same pan that the chicken cooked in add 3 cups stock or water and 1 cup white wine. Remove any veggies you want to serve with the meal (in my case the extra carrots). With a potato masher, smash the cooked veggies to release their flavor into the gravy. Bring to a boil and allow to reduce by half. Once the gravy has reduced make a slurry out of the flour and about 1/2 c water. Add the flour slurry to the gravy and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute then remove from heat. Strain gravy thru a fine mesh strainer to remove the spent veg and any flour lumps, producing a smooth gravy.

Sorry there's no pictures of the gravy - we were too hungry to take more photos!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
8 Servings, 1 piece chicken and gravy each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 162.7
Total Fat 2.3 g
Saturated Fat 0.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Cholesterol 64.6 mg
Sodium 406.0 mg
Potassium 437.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 7.6 g
Dietary Fiber 1.6 g
Sugars 2.3 g
Protein 22.7 g

10 comments:

Ashleigh said...

This is so great!!

Michelle said...

Jamie Oliver is my hero! That bit with the kids that weren't able to identify veggies was almost as sad for me as those kids who wanted to eat those "nuggets" that he made out of the chicken carcass & lard. How sad!

We aren't going to be able to try this recipe this week, only because I've already done my grocery shopping for the week and don't have a chicken. Yours, however, looks fabulous and I will definitely, eventually be making this dish!

Thanks for passing it on! :)

Megan H Carroll said...

Thank you Andrea, your images look wonderful...

Megan H Carroll said...

And you trussed the bird...an ongoing debate in my house.

Out of the Box into the Kitchen said...

I just blogged about it last night too...I wanted to slap those lunch ladies. The veggies appalled me too, now my 3 yr old does know what veggies are. He picked out broccoli although I know he doesn't like it, but I bought it b/c he wanted it. He loves red peppers and calls them tomatoes but that's the red color at least they are in his vocabulary.

The chicken made me gag...and this is a great idea! But I've already planned my menu this week. Will she post maybe what she plans on doing the next week a week before, so maybe others can plan it? Just a thought...

Unknown said...

I would love to be a part of this too this week, but I'm with Michelle J, I've already got my weeks menu planned. Is there anyway that (Heather's idea) of letting us know what is up for the week so we can plan ahead?

Amy B. said...

Another follower of Jamie Oliver over here! The world needs more Jamie Olivers!

Sarah said...

This looks wonderful. I have been following Jamie Oliver on this Revolution. I hope it works.

Anusce@Ciao-Chow said...

The roasted chicken looks amazing!!
I almost feel I can taste it through the computer...

Stephen C said...

I found your site via Jen's Food Journey. It is beautifully done. I was interested in your comments about Jamie Oliver. We've been watching the show and find it frustrating (more for him than for us) and fascinating.

There was a New York Times article in yesterday's Dining section on the surge of activism around the country regarding school lunch programs. Maybe the best thing to come out of Jamie's efforts will be more of this.

I'd like to add your site to my blog so that I see what you do on a daily basis. Maybe you would have a look at mine and consider putting a link on yours if you deem it worthy?

http://theobsessivechef.blogspot.com

Keep up the good work! Lovely photos too - something I'm working on getting better at.

Best,
StephenC

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