Mark your history books for yesterday because I created my very own recipe - AND wrote it down! Not that I haven't whipped up something from deep within the chasms of my brain before, actually I have started doing that quite often all the sudden, I just have never written it down. In fact, when I told Peter that I would be making up tonight's dinner he responded, "
ooo, then I know it will be a good one!" He is so sweet to encourage my crazy desire for creation.
Speaking of creation; I finally felt normal when in the
General Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday night for the
Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the second counselor in the First Presidency, President Uchtdorf gave a talk with the central idea of our inherent need to create as humans. This is so because we are children of the greatest Creator, our Heavenly Father. His words felt so true and so right to me.
The next day I found myself looking a this amazing girl's blog (I can't tell you which one just yet because her blog will be my Bloglight for October!) where she comes up with all these recipes and makes them AND photographs them - my two loves combined into one, the ultimate means of creation for me!
I felt so inspired by her and her incredible talents I came home and feeling empowered I decided to make up my own recipe and call it out to Peter as I went. This worked out perfectly! Although because this was my first time with this recipe there will be many more perfections to come! Here is the first version though!
Shallot and Herb Roasted Chicken with Bacon and Carrots
Serves 4-6
1 Whole Roasting Chicken (3-5 lbs.)
½ tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence
1 Lemon, cut into quarters
1 ½ tablespoons Extra-virgin Olive Oil (divided)
4 slices of Bacon
2 medium sized Shallot, cut in half
1 clove of Garlic, cracked
2-3 large Carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally into ½ – inch slices
3 Bay Leafs
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Rinse chicken. Remove giblets and neck and pat dry. Trim excess fat from skin and meat. Prepare chicken by gently separating the skin from the meat with your fingers so to make a pocket for the herbs.
Rub the skin with butter, salt, and pepper. Then, working in-between the skin and the meat in the pocket you created, rub the meat with the herbs de Provence being sure to evenly cover the front, back and the legs. Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and fry for 2 minutes. Add shallots and garlic with bacon and continue to fry being careful not to burn the bacon or the shallots or garlic.
Once bacon has finished cooking, remove it and set aside for later. Add the carrots, sauté for about 5 minutes scraping the pan to loosen some of the bacon and adding the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil if needed.
Remove the carrots from the pan and place in your roasting dish. Also remove the shallots and garlic from the pan and reserve for later.
Place two quarters of the lemon inside the chicken cavity. Then place the reserved shallots and garlic along with two pieces of bacon and 1 bay leaf. Cover the cavity with the remaining lemon halves.
With the last two bay leafs, place them under the skin with the herbs de Provence to intensify the flavor. Tie legs together with twine.
Place the chicken in the roasting pan with the carrots and remaining bacon. Place in the oven, covered for 30 minutes.
Reduce heat to 375 degrees and finish roasting uncovered for 25 minutes; basting once.
Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes then transfer to serving dish.
The total menu for the night was: Roasted Chicken and Carrots
Roasted Yam Fries
Steamed Broccoli
The Yam fries were delicious and looked marvelous served in a small tea cup! These are so easy, you simply peel and slice a yam into small sticks drizzle in olive oil and sprinkle with salt, brown sugar and then topped off with freshly squeezed orange juice. Roast them for 20 minutes (during the last 20 minutes of roasting your chicken) and then broil them at the very end for like 2 minutes. Just make sure not to burn them, just help them crisp up a little.
For the steamed broccoli I cheated. It is a little trick I learned from my mom, you just throw some frozen broccoli florets in a bowl with some oil (mom uses butter) and a little salt and lemon pepper. The lemon pepper is key - makes them perfectly delicious. Throw a paper towel over them and microwave for 2-3 minutes.
As a tasting note: I must say that the carrots were my most favorite part! Oh, having them fried in bacon grease for a few minutes makes all the difference and then allowing them to slowly soak up the delicious juices of the chicken as it cooks - pure goodness.
So you know, all photographs were taken by me in my attempt at a food photography studio - I need some practice and fine tuning but I will get it!
Hopefully you enjoyed my journey through creating my first recipe - hopefully there are loads more to come. Oh and I will try and post 1 new recipe a week, it may not be my own but it will be something scrumptious! And I will try to make it and photograph it first. Oh with fall upon us I can only dream of the delicious soups and breads and spiced treats.
This has seriously been FUN! I am throwing a baby shower for my awesome Sister-in-law who is having her first boy in December (yeah close cousins!!!) She suggested a Dr. Seuss theme and it just set my mind off! I have come up with all these cool ideas (some a little too crazy for the natural world).
