We are in Washington DC and it’s snowing.
It makes a pretty picture but gives us pause about driving to see our friends Ann and Ray on Chesapeake Bay later this afternoon.
Not a major problem because our generous hosts Irv and Iris are happy to have us stay over an extra night.
Which gives me time to post the intro to the Chicken section in Healthy Eating for Life (now available on Amazon.com by the way).
It describes a way of roasting a chicken which was new to me. It was Irv who tipped me the wink!
He even demonstrated his method last Friday.
Our friend Irv Molotsky in Washington put me onto a wonderfully carefree way to roast a chicken, developed by America’s Test Kitchen. Simple and hands-off—well the chicken needs a hand getting into the oven, but that’s about it!
Wash a medium size chicken and pat it dry. Brush it with olive oil and season it well with sea salt and black pepper. Stuff a couple of garlic cloves, a sprig of rosemary and half a lemon in the cavity. Put a roasting tray in the oven. Heat the oven to 230c/450f—yes, you are heating the tray.
Take the tray out, wearing a strong pair of oven gloves, put the chicken in it and pop the tray back in the oven for thirty minutes.
Then, WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN, turn off the heat and leave the chicken for a second thirty minutes. Take the chicken out of the oven and the pan.
While the bird takes a well-earned rest, covered with foil, for twenty minutes, make a little gravy. Lift all but a spoonful of fat out of the pan and ease the remaining good bits, including the squeezed garlic cloves, into a sauce with half a wine glass of white wine or water. Gently heat this, stirring to amalgamate the gravy.
Hey Presto!
Irv’s Carefree Roast Chicken!
Robin Ellis 
that looks so delicious!! We might try it. Robin and Meredith, so sorry to miss your book signing yesterday, as I am only a few miles from Arlington. 😦 I planned to come, but have been fighting a bug and it just started escalating as the day wore on. I didn’t want to spread any germs your way. I hope you had a lot of people come to say hello; so sorry I couldn’t be one of them.
Speaking of chicken, I had also printed out a recipe to give to you, from Dirk Bogarde’s website. If you want to check it out (it’s divine!), just go to Dirk’s website, click on the “miscellaneous” tab, then click on “recipe.” Now that I have made so many of your recipes, I wonder how you might “Robinize” it.
Apologies for our weather, but I hope the rest of your visit and your book tour will go without a hitch!
Safe travels,
Bonnie
Thanks for the tip, Bonnie. I’m puzzled that Dirk B has a website, he died some years ago!
Hope you feel better soon. Meredith has been under the weather with a cold too….
Yes, Dirk has been gone for some time, but if you visit http://www.dirkbogarde.co.uk/ you can enjoy many memories of him. 🙂 I, too, was surprised when I found it last year.
That looks like my sort of cooking , will give it a try:-)
THIS IS CERTAINLY GOING TO BE ON THIS WEEKS FAMILY MENU. I USUALLY COAT MY CHICKEN WITH HONEY, SEA SALT ( CORNISH OF COURSE ) AND BLACK PEPPER. THE SKIN DOES BROWN VERY QUICKLY BUT IT IS YUMMY!!! THE JUICES MAKE LOVELY GRAVY. ENJOY YOUR STAY AND KEEP WARM AND SAFE.
Looks delicious. Hope you survived our snow storms and maybe caught some of the Academy Awards?
Made a point of staying in last night to watch the Oscars! Usually the time difference in France makes it impossible.
Hi Robin. I’ve been caught up in the rollercoaster of life lately. Please catch me up, will you be visiting San Francisco with the new book soon?
7.30pm Monday 17th March at the Booksmith in San Francisco, Colleen.
Wonderful, so glad I asked. Looking forward to saying hello in person this time!
Robin, the first time the chicken is put into the oven is at 450F? The oven is not lowered after the tray is heated to 450F?
Ann
“Take the tray out, wearing a strong pair of oven gloves, put the chicken in it and pop the tray back in the oven for thirty minutes.
Then, WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN, turn off the heat and leave the chicken for a second thirty minutes.”
It sounds a bit odd but it works! Leave the chicken to rest for a further 20 mins out of the oven.
Wow! Snow! A lot of young people I talked to recently have never seen snow before! They are students from Spain, Ecuador and South China!!
Hello, R.E., you and Meredith are in my hometown! I grew up in Bethesda, a suburb of DC and then subsequently lived in the city. Too bad the weather is not cooperating but an extra night with friends tucked away in the warm with a delicious chicken dinner sounds just fine. I will most definitely try this recipe.