Many moons ago, when I was a poverty-stricken law student and, for a few years after that, when I was a not-much-richer new lawyer, those big chunks of chicken (primarily dark meat that included skin and bones) were a regular grocery store purchase. Back then, the local discount supermarket routinely ran sales on ten pound bags of cut chicken parts for forty-nine cents a pound. At that price, it rivaled the cost of beans for a protein source and you can bet we ate alot of that chicken.
While such chicken is typically termed "fryer-parts" around here, it would take a gun to my head before I ever opted to fry chicken (or, for that matter, anything). Fortunately, I discovered early on that the chicken pieces cooked up beautifully in the oven and were also fantastic for grilling. Over time, though, an increasing income permitted me to forego the bags of budget chicken parts, and my chicken purchase of choice became the plump and juicy breast, sans bone and skin.
Not too long ago, however, I came across a recipe online that, along with the accompanying blog post and photos, definitely made me rethink my preference for boneless breasts of chicken. I marked the recipe in "Favorites" on my computer and then promptly forgot all about it, until our recent household budget crunch resulted in yesterday's purchase of that large package of chicken parts. Suddenly excited about the chance to be both fiscally responsible and prepare some totally awesome chicken, I pulled up the recipe and headed for the kitchen to make tonight's dinner.
Unfortunately, the realization quickly struck that the recipe called for shallots, which I did not possess and for which the new budget did not allow, and so I was immediately forced to make a substitution. That substitution caused another, and then another and then another. The preparation process ultimately ended with a pan of chicken ready for the oven that was drizzled in a marinade completely unlike the one described in the original recipe.
That's the bad news, if you can call it such.
The good news - make that the great news - is that the chicken turned out perfectly. "Perfect" is a term I rarely employ to describe my own cooking, but this dish completely qualifies for that description. The preparation prior to cooking took about three minutes to accomplish and, after a forty minute turn in the oven, out came the most succulent pieces of roasted chicken imaginable. The outside of the chicken was roasted to a gorgeous browned finish, and the inside was moist and juicy and infused with the fabulous flavor of the savory-sweet marinade I had thrown together. As Scott succinctly put it, "This is something I could eat every single night."
Perfect Roasted Chicken (adapted from Roast Chicken with Carmelized Shallots on davidlebovitz.com)
3 tablespoons garlic & chili extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 tablespoon honey
3 pounds chicken pieces (or a very small roaster, cut into 6 to 8 pieces, if you prefer to hack your own)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 tablespoons minced garlic (to taste)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange chicken, skin side up, in a shallow baking pan large enough to accommodate all the chicken. Mix together oil, vinegar, soy sauce, hot sauce and honey, then drizzle over chicken in pan. Sprinkle chicken with salt and minced garlic. Bake for 20 minutes. Pull chicken from oven and increase heat to 425 degrees. Turn all chicken pieces upside down in pan and return to oven. Bake for 20 more minutes. Pull pan from oven and flip chicken pieces so that skin-side is again up. If the tops of the chicken pieces need a slight browning to finish (and they probably will), turn oven to "broil" and, once oven is heated to a full 500 degree broil, return chicken to oven, a few inches away from broiler units, watching constantly, for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until chicken is nicely browned. Serve immediately, and drizzle chicken pieces with marinade from pan for optimum flavor.
No comments:
Post a Comment