Roasted Chicken and Homemade Stock

The farmer's market in my neighborhood is technically year round, but I guess we at the time of year when the farmers just have nothing to sell. There were no produce stands at the market last week, which was very disappointing. Next Saturday I'm going to try the market in the next neighborhood over to see if maybe they have more to offer. Anyway, the meat vendor from Smith Meadows Farm showed up, so my trip was not in vain. I bought some eggs and because I was feeling adventurous I also got a whole chicken and an oxtail. More on the oxtail later.

Although I roasted a duck for Thanksgiving, I've never done a whole chicken before. For some reason I found the idea really intimidating and kept putting it off. Man, was I being silly. Roasting a chicken is SO EASY and SO GOOD. Since this was my first time doing it, I decided to stick with a recipe which is uncharacteristic for me. I used Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken recipe and followed it almost to the letter. The only things I did differently were to omit the onions (because I hate them) and to put some fennel fronds in the chicken cavity just because I had them and why not. Since my bird was a little smaller, around 4 pounds, my cooking time was closer to an hour. Here is the finished product:

Golden brown and delicious!

In addition to roasting chicken for the first time, this was also the first time I've cooked fennel. My husband and I both liked it. It has a subtle sweetness and I think it's great for these kinds of applications. Since I dislike onions so much I think I might start using fennel as a substitute for things like roasts, and maybe stews. It isn't my new favorite thing (like cauliflower was, haha) but I'm happy to add something new to my repertoire.

The hardest part of cooking a whole bird is carving it, but I think we managed to do that without butchering it too badly. We each had a breast and a drumstick for dinner.

In addition to providing us with a wonderful Sunday night dinner, I also got enough meat off the chicken to use in four lunch salads and I was able to use the carcass to make stock. After thanksgiving I made duck stock with our leftovers and I did that on the stove top since I was home from work and had the time to babysit it. This time I decided to try the crock pot, however, and it worked beautifully. Basically I just threw a bunch of stuff in and left it alone. First I added the carcass, and I left the aromatics inside the cavity. I figured they couldn't hurt. Then I added spices, mostly red pepper flake, bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary. I think I also added additional salt. I threw in the leftover roasted fennel and carrots, then added more carrots and two stalks of celery in addition to more fennel tops. Recently I read that putting acid in a stock helps leach the nutrients out of the bones and into the stock, which is where you want it, so I also put in a few dashes of apple cider vinegar. I covered it with water and left it on low for 20 hours. The result was beautiful, I got over two quarts of lovely, rich, dark brown stock.

I forgot to take a picture before I strained it, sorry!

I strained it into a pitcher so I could just pour it into whatever I want to use it for later in the week. I'm just obsessed with the color. It's so much darker than the store bought stocks or broths. Even Kitchen Basics, which was my preferred brand, is a few shades lighter than this. Making the stock was so easy I really have no excuse to ever buy it again. 

Thanksgiving Shopping

This weekend I went to the farmer's market with the goal of getting as much as possible of what I needed to cook Thanksgiving dinner later this week. It's just me and my husband this year, but we still plan on making plenty of food. So far here's our menu:

Butternut squash soup
Duck with pan sauce
Green Beans
Sweet potato casserole
Corn bread dressing (for my husband, I'm not a dressing fan)
Roasted potatoes
Pumpkin pie

I was able to get the squash, green beans, both kinds of potatoes, an onion for the dressing, and a sugar pumpkin pie at the farmer's market.

I also got some more delicious honey crisp apples, cauliflower to make a cauliflower puree for my husband's office Thanksgiving potluck, and some huge parsnips. This was the first time I've seen parsnips there and I was so excited, I love parsnips so much. So far there has still been a pretty good variety at the market, I hope in continues through winter. I've never tried this seasonal eating thing before and I'm afraid I'll get tired of the same old stuff by about the end of January. Hopefully it won't be a problem though.

Food for You-Know-Who

I woke up early on Saturday to run to the farmer's market. I didn't get anything too exciting, mostly the same old stuff since that's what's in season. I did find some really beautiful purple lettuce though so I bought that instead of the standard green. This was partially because it was so pretty, but also because usually the more colorful food is the better it is for you. Anyway, I went home, put everything away, and started to clean the lettuce. As I was in the kitchen doing this my husband woke up and got out of bed. His first words to me were:

Robbie: Looking at the lettuce: "That looks like something Voldemort would eat."

Me: "I've never known Voldemort to eat anything besides unicorn blood. I don't really think he's a salad kind of guy."

Robbie: "Well if he did eat salad he would use that lettuce."

Well, good morning to you too. I think this might be his way of telling me he prefers the normal green lettuce.

Voldemort's Salad

Anyway, I also bought broccoli, green beans, white sweet potatoes, eggs, cauliflower, and some really cute tiny Brussels sprouts. Oh, and some apples. I used to eat a lot of apples, but cut back since they're pretty high in sugar. I started eating berries instead. Well, I really can't pretend berries are in season anymore so I'm back to apples. These are honey crisp and they are delicious. 

In addition, I think I might be getting into the whole red wine thing. We've had a few bottles of Cote du Rhone that I've really enjoyed. I have no idea if that's a good red wine, or like the white zin of the red wine world, but I guess I don't really care.

Farmer's Market Haul

Yesterday morning I had a chance to go to the market again so I went back to the one in my neighborhood. It was a bit chilly (in the 30s brrr) but the market was still going strong. I got broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, a green pepper, eggs, and hot Italian sausage from Smith Meadows Farm.

I'm very happy they still have tomatoes at the market. I might cry when the day comes where I can't get fresh tomatoes anymore.

Also, I got my husband to watch Food Inc. with me yesterday and I think he's starting to understand why I don't just want to buy all our groceries at the Giant store down the street. I really think that everyone should have to watch this movie at some point.

Saturday Market

Today is Saturday which means farmer's market day. There is one in my neighborhood, but I decided to go to a different market a few miles away today because it is larger and runs year round. The one closer to home is still open, but I wanted to see what was going on at the other market so I could be prepared for when mine closes.

Anyway, this new market was great. They had a really wide variety. There were several stands selling fruits and vegetables, two selling grass fed meat, two selling cheese, a few selling plants and flowers, one baker and even one stand completely devoted to mushrooms. I got a lot of great stuff.

Here is my haul: lettuce, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, acorn squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, black eyed peas, heirloom tomatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, pastured eggs and fresh mozzarella. I got all of this for about $40 which is definitely less than I would spend if I tried to buy the same stuff at Whole Foods. Also, the mozzarella was kind of an impulsive splurge. It was a little expensive at $7, but I really really love fresh mozzarella and I needed something to eat with what are probably some of the last tomatoes of the season.

And I know I've talked about not eating legumes but somehow still ended up buying green beans and black eyed peas. Well, as far as the green beans go I just really love them. They aren't as starchy as other beans and since I'm eating them in the pod I feel like the eat more like a vegetable than a legume. And as for the black eyed peas, they are one of my husband's favorite foods. He requested them recently so when I saw them at the market I figured why not buy some to make him happy. I don't think I've ever had fresh black eyed peas, so they should be interesting.

When I got home I fixed myself some lunch. I had sausage and butternut squash sauteed in butter with a side of kale chips. I steamed the squash first then just cooked it with some kielbasa. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, red pepper flake, and garlic. I cut the kale into bite sized pieces then roasted it with olive oil and salt and pepper for ten minutes at 350 degrees. I've heard a lot about kale chips recently but this was the first time I tried them for myself. They were absolutely delicious, like a really thin broccoli flavored potato chip. Ha, I guess maybe that doesn't sound terribly appetizing, but I promise they were really good.