Orange-garlic roast chicken with balsamic glazed carrots

I roasted my first chicken tonight!!!

It wasn't too scary - honestly the worst part was having to stick half my arm up the chicken's butt to pull out its heart and liver since they weren't in a nice neat little bag.

I don't have a roasting pan, so I used my new Le Creuset baking dish ($25 at Marshall's, thankyouverymuch!):


I used a recipe from my Martha Stewart Living magazine. Here are the ingredients:

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Coarse salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 navel oranges, 1 zested, both cut into 2-inch wedges
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme, plus a few sprigs (I used ~1 tsp. dried thyme)
  
• 1 whole chicken (4 to 4 1/2 pounds)
• 2 red onions, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch wedges (I just had yellow onions)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. The recipe says to mash the garlic and salt together in a paste. I've seen this done with the edge of a knife on your cutting board, but I decided to use my mortar and pestle. I added the zest and thyme to the paste too.

Mix the garlic paste with the butter.

Prepare the chicken - rinse it under cold water, and make sure there aren't any feathers still stuck in the skin. Remove all the goodies from the cavity of the bird, then pat it dry and place it in your dish. Tuck the wings under the body. Gently separate the skin from the flesh, and rub half the butter mixture under the skin. Fill the cavity with a couple onion and orange wedges, and tie the legs together (I didn't have kitchen twine, so I used a rubber band...). Salt the bird, and arrange the rest of the onions and oranges around the bird, dotting with the rest of the butter.


So pretty! Roast for 30 minutes, then flip all the aromatics. I was supposed to save some butter for basting, but didn't realize - there were plenty of juices in the pan to baste with though, so that worked fine.

Roast and check and baste at 15 minute intervals until done - I pulled mine out after about an hour, because I thought the skin was going to burn. I should have left it in another 15-25 minutes, though, because the thighs were still pink. The breasts were done and super juicy though!

Here's the finished product:



It looked so pretty I couldn't believe it came out of my oven!! The rub really flavored the chicken well, it was very orangey and delicious. The onions and oranges in the pan were also really good, they had a nice roasty flavor and who doesn't love super-sweet roasted oranges?

I cooked up some balsamic-glazed carrots to go with. Basically I made glazed carrots like Mom usually does, but instead of butter and sugar, I used balsamic vinegar and butter, and let it reduce to a glaze. They were really yummy and a new flavor combo for us.


Anybody else have any fun chicken roasting stories?

Balsamic tilapia with spinach pesto potatoes

These recipes look super fancy and difficult, but they were actually really simple and easy to pull off! I think they're great for a night when you want a little fancier dinner, but don't feel like standing in the kitchen for hours to get it!

First, the potatoes. This recipe is straight from Joy the Baker, one of the recipe blogs I like to read. I cut it in half since there's only two of us:

• 2 russet potatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• salt
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat over to 425. Thinly slice garlic cloves. Scrub potatoes well, and slice a small layer off the bottom to give it a base. Cut thin rounds in the potatoes, but don't slice all the way through the potato. Place slices of garlic in between every other slice, like this:

The slices kind of like to stick together, but if you get a knife in between that helps spread them apart. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet, cover with a pat of butter and drizzle of oil. Bake for 1 hour, basting with the melted butter every 15 minutes - this will make the potatoes nice and crispy!

For the spinach pesto:

• 2 loosely packed cups of spinach
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cups roasted cashews (I used pecans and toasted them until fragrant)
  
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Blend everything but the olive oil in a food processor until finely chopped. Slowly add oil while pulsing. Make sure to taste for the seasonings!

Yum!

The original recipe for the balsamic tilapia was courtesy Rachael Ray - the tilapia was salted, peppered, and lightly dusted with flour. I sauteed it for about 4 minutes on each side. After removing the fish, lower heat to medium and add 3 Tbsp. butter. Allow the butter to brown (about 3 minutes) then add 1/4 C. balsamic vinegar. Simmer 1 to 2 minutes and allow mixture to reduce by half.


The sauce gets nice and thick and sweet-smelling! Just pour some over the fish.

When the potatoes are done they look like this:


See how the sections separate? So pretty!!


The finished product was super yummy, and really light and fresh-tasting. I still have some leftover pesto, I'll probably put over pasta or chicken.

Side note - there is a bit of butter/oil in these recipes, but I think they could be pretty easily substituted with margarine or olive oil, if you want.

Don't be afraid to try these, even though they look kind of complicated. They were actually quite simple, but they look really impressive on the plate! Enjoy!