Chicken Dinner

Snow, snow, snow, lots of snow, and though I had a lot to do Saturday, all I did was shovel snow, and make a chicken dinner for myself. Well I did some other stuff, but nothing from my to-do list, or particularly constructive. If you’re a regular reader you know I’d rather not make a whole dinner just for myself, but knowing snow was on the way I took a chicken out of the freezer and bought some real food to put in the fridge. I even got vegetables. Shoveling was hard work, and though my neighbor came to help me finish up, it took me over an hour, as much of the snow from across the street had drifted to my side, the snow was up to my knees.

There is something truly wonderful about a chicken roasting in the oven. It smells heavenly, and you know there will be something wonderful on your plate soon. I love roast chicken so much if it’s on the menu at a restaurant chances are that’s what I’ll order. With that in mind I got my chicken ready. I unwrapped it and put it (uncovered) on a sheet tray in the fridge to dry out the skin.  This takes at least an hour, I left it there for about two. I melted a little butter (about 1 tablespoon) and mixed that with some garlic salt and smoked paprika to brush on the chicken. I used a V-rack for maximum skin exposure and put it into a 375° oven.

 

While the chicken was cooking I boiled some small white potatoes in very salty water for about half an hour. Meantime I got my green beans ready to go into the oven. I washed and dried them, then tossed them with some oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper, and put them into the oven with the chicken (in their own pan). When the potatoes were almost cooked I drained them and let them dry, then flattened them with the bottom of the pot I’d cooked them in and put them in the pan with the chicken. In a perfect world everything would have been ready at the same time, but my world is just left of perfect. Good thing the beans were fine warm rather than hot.

Because it was just me (did I mention that?) there are lots of leftovers, which is fine because there is a lot of snow, and I am fond of leftovers, and it turns out I have a snow day/work at home day today, so I’ll make good use of them. I may also make the split pea soup I had on my Saturday to-do list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope if you experienced Jonas (when did they start naming winter storms?) you were able to stay warm and cozy, and lost of yummy food and fine company. I’m  looking forward to a week of melting snow myself. What did you cook this weekend?