Meat 'n' Potatoes

BF and I have been trying to plan meals ahead more now that we are no longer a three minute walk away from Pete's Frootique, so we went grocery shopping on the weekend and brought home, among other things, a small, four pound chicken to roast.  Usually BF does a chicken if we get one since he is the master of turning out both the perfect, moist meat and AMAZING stuffing.  Alas, it was a long work day for BF so I took it on this time.

First things first - the stuffing.  The one I made was pretty simple.  I started with 1 cup each of minced celery and white onion, and a couple tbsp of butter.  I melted the butter in a sauce pan and sauteed the veg until it was just tender.

Meanwhile, I chopped up a small loaf of bread that had been hanging out at our place a couple days too long.  It yielded about 4 cups.  

Then I measured out 1 teaspoon each of dried rosemary, ground sage, and celery salt, as well as half a tsp of dried thyme, and a quarter tsp salt and pepper.  I substituted garlic salt for a bit more flavour.

Then I poured in about 3/4 cup of chicken stock and mixed it well so the seasoning was evenly distributed, and I stuffed the chicken.  The recipe said to rub the skin with butter for extra taste and to crisp the skin up when it's cooking.  I substituted the butter with a tablespoon of drippings from the maple bacon we've cooked so many times.  I also poked in some fresh rosemary and garlic cloves. 

My plan was to keep busy while the chicken was roasting - at about 385 for just over two hours - and so rather than planning separate sides to worry about later, I roasted some potatoes, carrots and onions right in the pan, and somehow it magically turned into this:

And then this:

Yummmmmy!  It turned out pretty well I think, even if BF does do better stuffing. And there are leftovers for the next day too!  

We also enjoyed our meal at the table, instead of on floor pillows at our coffee table, for possibly the first time ever.  In the apartment, the table was used mostly for storage, and up until now, here at the house, the table remained in five pieces - that was the plan I had to unfold while the chicken was cooking.  I put it together and set it up right beside one of the big windows onto our backyard and we sat and ate supper and drank wine and chatted and watched it get dark outside.  It was so lovely!  There really is something to taking time out and sitting down and sharing a meal isn't there?

Till next time!