I'm Gonna Roast that Chicken in a Pan..

Roasting a chicken is simple and it makes for an elegant meal to serve friends any time of year. I recently got my paws on an amazing fresh chicken from Tuckahoe Plantation in Richmond. If you can afford the extra (its only a couple of dollars) for an organic free-range chickie, the difference in taste from their weirdo battery cousins is unbelievable!

Depending on the season, vary your sides. It is so easy to throw veggies into the roasting pan while the chicken does it's thing. I used typical vegg that I have laying around (i am currently the poorest of church mice): carrots, potatoes, and lots of garlic. I also made a quick gravy with the drippings left on the bottom of the pan. This was my first lesson at cooking school and is the best cooking basic to know.. get on it. x

ROASTED CHICKEN w/ VEGGIES & a MUSTARD GRAVY

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken, 2.5-3 lbs (1.1-1.4 kg)
  
• 1 lemon, cut into 4
  
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• 4 carrots, cut into bite-size chunks
• a bunch of tiny potatoes (as seen in pic) or 3 large baking potatoes, cut into smallish chunks
• 6 cloves of garlic
• lots of olive oil
• 2 glugs dry white wine, a cheapy is fine
• lots of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 spoonful Dijon mustard
• 2 large ladel-fulls of chicken stock
• a generous sprinkle of flour

Directions:

• 24 hrs before you plan on cooking the chicken, wash out the cavity. Dry with paper towel and salt & pepper the cavity and outside generously! This is kind of a pseudo-brine that makes the meat a lot more tender.
• When you are ready to cook, preheat oven to 450 F/230C.
• Stuff the chicken's cavity with lemon and 2 sprigs of thyme.
  
• Truss chicken. If you don't know how.. just tie the chickens feet together with some string so it doesn't fall apart when it is cooking.
  
• Look out a large roasting pan.. add cut veggies, garlic, s&p, and the rest of the thyme.
  
• Add a glug of olive oil.
• stir and make sure all veggies are coated.
• Push veggies aside and put chicken in the middle, breast side down.
  
• Rub a LITTLE extra oil over the chicken.
• Cook for 15 min.
• Reduce oven heat to 400F/200C
• Remove pan, turn chicken over (breast side-up), return, and cook for an additional 40 min. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken registers 160 F/70C between the breast and thigh (the meatiest part). If you have a large bird keep it in longer and check every 5 min.
  
• When done, take the chicken out and let it rest for 15 min (as you make the gravy). Keep warm.
  
• If the veg needs some more time (they shouldn't), return them to the oven. If they are done, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
• Put the roasting pan over stove top at med-high heat.
• Sprinkle drippings in pan with flour.. stir and combine
• add mustard, white wine, and chicken stock.
  
• Simmer until thick.. season with salt and pepper.
  
• Serve with chicken and vegg! YUMMY!
  

Cherry Upside down cake with whipped cream and cherry compote

As the summer is winding up I thought I would make the most of the summer fruit. A friend's birthday warranted another excuse to bring out the baking scales. A great source of food wisdom is my friend Sarah. Somehow knowledge about cooking abounds from her mind. She pointed out the fail-safe guide of equal parts eggs, self-raising flour, butter and sugar. It is sort of a Madeira cake or 'Quatre Quarts' cake that the french tend to enjoy. It's denser than your average cake so great to eat as a loaf cake with some fruit (blueberries are also a great replacement).

Ingredients:

4 eggs (work on each egg weighing around 50g)

200g self-raising flour

200g butter

200g sugar

One punnet of cherries, pitted and halved

We did add a touch of baking powder as we were using a wide dish to bake the cake in.

Make it in the usual cake manner, creaming the sugar and butter together, blending in one egg at a time and then sifting in the flour. Place the cherries in the bottom of your baking tin and pour the batter over the top.

Place in the oven on the middle shelf at 170C/340F and depending on your cake tin bake for around 35-45 minutes. You will want the cake to be firm when it comes out of the oven and the butter will ensure it stays moist.

Whilst it is baking you can make the compote and whipped cream. For this all you will need is another punnet of cherries (stones removed of course) with a tablespoon of sugar and half a lime, cooked with a splash of water. Let it simmer down over a medium heat until the syrup is released. Serve it warm with the cake and it goes excellently with some whipped cream.

Decadent though it may be, add a small amount of icing sugar (confectioners sugar) to your cream before whipping it to get as much joy out of your afternoon treat as possible.

You can eat the cake warm or cold, morning, noon or night and it will be great.