During this mandatory downtime, we got to wondering what chefs were cooking up in their home kitchens. Enjoy this blog takeover from Caldera House’s Chef Jeremy Williamson.
With all this time at home, you might find the need to cook to sustain some sanity. You can do this very simple recipe from home with very little ingredients. I always think ahead when I am cooking–what can be saved, what can be used multiple times. This will save you money and also expand your cooking ability.
We make this at home as a family and its one of our favorites. My at-home cooking is always simple and tasty. We also do take advantage of cooking a meal that can become multiple other meals. I wanted to share an example of what that looks like and the direction that chefs think when we make a meal. So, we start with a roasted chicken. For that you will need the following:
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (obvious, I know)
- 1 whole yellow onion
- 3 spring onions (slice the greens thin, halve the bulb)
- 2 carrots
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- 1 full bulb of garlic
- 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper (Hate that I have to include this. People always ask, “Why does the food taste so good?? What rub did you use?? Did you marinate it???” No, SALT AND PEPPER!!!! People died a long time ago over these two very important ingredients! Use them!)
- Butter, softened
- Shallow roasting pan or Dutch oven
- Bread
- Butter
- Wine (Your choice, but a nice white with some body would be perfect)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F.Remove the neck and organs of the chicken, saving them for later. I can’t stress how important these are–in the south, we never discard them. They make great sauces or fortify the stock we will make later. Take the chicken and rub all over with the butter, seasoning with the salt and pepper. Stuff the herbs in the cavity of the bird.
- Peel the onion and carrots, setting aside the peels. Cut the onions and carrots into a medium dice, no need to make them pretty, but they should be about the size of a quarter. Season the veggies lightly, toss in olive oil and place in and around the bird in your roasting pan. Quarter the lemon and cut the garlic in half, exposing the cloves. Place those in and around the chicken. Cook the chicken through (this will take around 50 minutes or so), using a meat thermometer to test for doneness. Test the breast and just inside the thigh–the breast should be around 155 F, while the leg should be around 145 F. Do not tent it with tin foil…..pull it out and let it sit on the cool stove.
Dinner done. Pair it with wine, veggies and a little bread (maybe even smeared with the garlic that flavored your chicken). And because you’re thinking ahead, don’t discard the bones or any uneaten skin.
Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- Bones from roasted chicken
- Leftover chicken skin
- Onion peels
- Carrot peels
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 bulb of garlic
- Celery
- Herbs from chicken cavity
- All drippings and remnants from previously roasted chicken
Instructions
- Put all ingredients in your crock pot and set it to high.
- Full submerge ingredients with cold water.
- Cover, allowing to simmer overnight, or 12-13 hours.
- Remove the lid, chill in the fridge.
- Once the fat has solidified, remove it.
With any leftover roasted chicken meat, you can pull it apart and incorporate it into this easy soup:
Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 red pepper, diced small
- 1 yellow onion, diced small
- 1 carrot, diced small
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
- 1 large russet potato, scrubbed and small diced
- Pulled chicken (about ½ the bird’s meat)
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- 1 lemon
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Take the fat we saved from the top of the stock, 2 tablespoons or so, and use it to brown the smashed garlic, while heavily seasoning it with pepper, until the pepper is toasted.
- Add and sweat the diced vegetables.
- Squeeze lemon over vegetables, seasoning with salt.
- Add chicken and stock, simmering until reduced and slightly thick from all the ingredients.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
