Spoon & Shutter

A perfect roast chicken (if I do say so myself!)

From Susan: Yesterday here in Northern New Jersey was cool and breezy – the kind of autumn Sunday that makes me think, “roast chicken.” A meaty chicken (or two, if you have room in your oven) can set you up quite nicely for a few days. The herb-y, lemony scent of a roasting bird in the house offers comforting anticipation of a delightful dinner to come; there are all sorts of good things you can do with the leftovers and when you’re left with nothing but the carcass, it’s time for soup.

There’s an old culinary adage that says a good roast chicken is the hallmark of an accomplished cook. I’m no Julia Child, but I have developed a simple and successful method for roasting chicken – I quite like the juicy, flavorful result and the people I feed it to usually do too.

First, it’s important to start with a quality chicken.  In the supermarket, I always choose kosher chickens, generally Murray’s; if you can’t locate a kosher chicken buy the best, free-range, vegetarian-fed bird you can find. Since these tend to be smaller than the big, weirdly yellow “oven-stuffer roasters,” you may want to roast two chickens to feed more than 2-3 people and have leftovers.

Take the package of giblets out of the cavity; rinse the chicken and dry it with paper towels. Place it in a roasting pan big enough to hold it with a little extra room so you can get in there and baste it with the juices that will accumulate.

Preheat your oven to 400. If you have convection, use it. Squeeze a half a lemon over the chicken, then stuff it into the cavity. Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Now for the herbs; if I have fresh herbs I use them, if not, dried are fine. I like a mixture of thyme, rosemary and tarragon – distributed in generous amounts inside of the chicken and out. Place 1 tbsp. of butter inside the chicken, distribute another 2 tbsp. cut in bits tucked into the crevices of the bird and strewn over the skin.  Finally, pour about a 1/2 inch of dry white wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.

The well-dressed chicken ready for the oven

Roast the chicken for 15 minutes without opening the oven door. Take the pan out, turn the oven down to 350 and baste the chicken with the juices, tilting the pan if needed. Put the chicken back into the oven and roast – basting about every 15 minutes – until an instant-read thermometer registers 165 when stuck into the thickest part of the thigh.

I can’t tell you exactly how long your chicken will take, but in my oven, with the convection on, a 3-4 lb. chicken roasted this way is done in a total of about 1  1/2 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes – pass the chicken juices in a gravy boat if you wish – and your favorite vegetables and you have the perfect Sunday dinner.

Before Sunday, dinner, however, there’s that late-afternoon lull when you might want to settle down with a mug of tea and the sections of the newspaper you didn’t get to over morning coffee. And if you’re like me, you’ll rummage around for a baked good (I’ve found that cinnamon toast will do, in a pinch) to go with your tea. Yesterday I thought I could do better than a pinch, so I got ambitious and made that perfect tea-accompaniment – scones.

Apricot and Oat Scones

There was a time in my life when scones were a big part of it. The cafe I owned in Ridgewood, New Jersey was known for them – and this was long before sub-par scones turned up in every deli and Dunkin Donuts. Village Green Cafe’s buttermilk scones were made from scratch every day and were so popular I sometimes had to limit the amount people would buy to take home so I could have enough to serve with lunch and afternoon tea. I sold the restaurant in early 2000, and went through a looong period where I didn’t so much as want to look at a scone.

But I’m ready for scones again, and these have the same buttery, flaky texture I remember with the added health benefit of oats and whole wheat pastry flour. This recipe is from “The Earth-Bound Cookbook” by Myra Goodman, one of the many, many cookbooks I receive as the food editor for The Record. Instead of liquid buttermilk, which always seems to go bad before I can use all of it, I have become a big fan of powdered buttermilk – you can find in the baking aisle and it keeps nearly forever in the fridge.

Apricot and Oat Scones

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 plus 1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/2 plus 1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup minced dried apricots

10 tbsp. cold butter, cut into bits

1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400. Butter a baking sheet or use a Silpat or parchment paper.

Place all of the dry ingredients and the apricots in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Using a pastry blender or your fingers (my preferred method) cut in the butter until it is evenly distributed in tiny pieces.

Add the buttermilk and mix until the dough just comes together in a ball. Pat out onto a floured surface into a circle 6 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into 8 triangles and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with a little coarse sugar and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned and firm. Remove to a cooling rack.

Note: All of these OK-but-not-great photos are mine – Ted is traveling on assignment.