Roasting Chicken - For Meat And Bone Broth

Ahhhh, it's A Chicken Roasting Day!!!
One of my favorite days in the kitchen!

Today I washed and dried several pounds of chicken thighs (adding chicken feet later in the roasting process.) I then put the thigs in my 60 year old black speckled roasting pan. Drizzled with Moroccan EVOO and seasoned. Today my Rosemary Seasoning sounded good. This bone broth will be shared with my cat Henry and dog Oliver, so NO onion or garlic in any phase of prep.

When roasting chicken, I always do it the opposite of everyone else I know. I start with the chicken uncovered, for about an hour at 400° to brown it up, then turn the heat down to 350-375° and cover for the rest of the oven time. Today, the total time was just under 2 hours with the feet added after I reduced the temperature. Check the brownness of the thighs, occasionally poking them with a fork and basting everything.

Then the covered pot cooled, on my back deck where it was 52° and shady. Once cool enough to handle, I removed all the meat to package for future use.

It was back-to-the-pot for all the skin, fat, bones and feet, which Walmart's meat department labels . . . . .  😁 CHICKEN 🐔 PAWS 😅 !!

To all that I added enough water to half way fill the pan, bay leaves, peppercorns, turmeric, a big splash (1/3 - 1/2c) of apple cider vinegar and simmered it all on low, covered, for about 3 hours. Then cooled a bit again before beginning the straining.

Strain everything from one pot to another, of equal size, going back and forth a couple times using finer mesh strainers each time. I've now got it down to only a couple 'strains' since I use a dampened piece of cheesecloth type of material inside a big strainer, the final time to catch all the little particles. This works well for a nice semi-clear broth.

Before doing the final strain, be sure to thoroughly clean the pot you plan to chill this in. Chill at least overnight, or long enough for the fat to solidify at the top and the actual bone broth to gel underneath.

The vinegar and those simmered chicken feet produce a very well gelled broth, which indicates it's full of healthy collagen.

Heat and have a cup, use it in soups or gravies, and give your cat and dog some in their food. Supplementing our pet's diets with healthy human foods can definitely extend their lives.

My American Staffordshire, Penny lived to be 19+ and my Puggle, Oliver will be 15 in July. .🐶. .Lin

Tiny Red Beans, Whole-Grain Rice and Vegetables

I've bought little red beans in an Asian markets many times. They're deceptive and challenging. You'd think beans this tiny would cook fast. . .nope! They take a really long time.

Today I rinsed, sorted and simmered 3/4c of small red beans, 7 minutes or so, in cold water, 3 or 4 times, draining and rinsing in between each simmering.

At the end, I stirred in 1/2c rinsed, mixed, whole-grain rice blend. I brought that to a simmer, then drained, rinsed and simmered them together, another time or two. Finally after about an hour and a half of this process, the beans and rice were both cooked just beyond al dente. I shut off the heat, covered it and did the same with the vegetables, which I started simmering, partially covered, just after the first simmering of the beans.

1/2 med. head of green cabbage

1 big carrot

1 14.5oz. can diced tomatoes + juice

1/2t fresh black ground pepper

1T dry minced onion

1/2T curry powder

2 bay leaves

2T ghee or EVOO

Slice and simmer the vegetables, stirred together in the pan. Semi-cover them, with a couple splatter screens.

Cook over low heat until crisp-tender, while the beans and rice finish up. Combine everything, or serve the vegetables on top of the beans and rice.

This would be nice with grilled fish or chicken, but it's also a great vegan or vegetarian (vegan with EVOO - vegetarian with ghee) complete-protein, main dish. The flavors were a little bland until I added a couple shakes of my Rosemary Seasoning to everything on the plate. Mmmm this is so good! . .Lin

Roasted Vegetables

 

3 med. purple Japanese sweet potatoes

Peel away the ends and any bad spots, leaving as much of the skin as possible. Cut in chunks and get them in some salted water as quickly as possible to avoid oxidizing and turning a nasty grey...

In a big bowl, whisk together:

⅓-½c good quality EVOO

1t± smoked garlic chipotle seasoning

a good shake of salt

1t dry tarragon 

Cut the vegetables shown, in chunks, into the bowl. Drain and pat the sweet potatoes dry, with a paper towel. Add them to the bowl and toss well. Spread out everything on parchment lined baking sheets and roast in a preheated 375° oven for 40 minutes. Move everything around, flipping the big pieces, then turn the oven up to 400° for another 10-15 minutes.

This was so good! I had it with small, seared, butter-cooked lamb chops, seasoned with Rosemary Seasoning. I made sure most of the mushrooms ended up on this plate and also added some beets I roasted earlier.

The rest of the roasted vegetables could be blended, then heated with coconut milk and pumpkin pie spice, for a nice squash soup. . .Lin

Rosemary Seasoning Redux. . .

I discovered ground Rosemary a long time ago. Probably almost 30 years. We had been snowshoeing with friends, who invited us over for spaghetti afterwards. She had just made gallons of her red sauce. It was heavy with Rosemary and Cayenne, but I didn't understand the profile of either of those at the time. I thought it was the Rosemary alone that gave it that amazing flavor and heat! When I first began my food blog, I loved the flavor so much I felt the need to combine those to with salt, into what's since become my signature seasoning.  That took a while, since back then, ground Rosemary seemed a rarity.  Recently, I've been combining three ingredients: Penzey's ground Rosemary, Himalayan pink salt, and Penzey's Black and Red Spice which is a specific combination of their Cayenne Pepper and ground Black Tellecherry Peppers.  I do a 3/3/1 ration the order I just listed them.

For all the good Cayenne can do in our bodies, it has to be blended with a little black pepper for that to happen. The piperine in black pepper, activates the capsaicin in cayenne, for a powerful effect on our bodies. However, today I'm changing that up. I'm substituting Little's Chili Lime for the pepper elements. The results are milder, with fantastic flavor. If you need more of a kick, just add a little cayenne and black pepper.

In a large spice shaker, stir with a wooden spoon handle, to combine:

• 3T finely ground Himalayan Pink Salt 
• 3T ground Rosemary
• 1T Little's Chili Lime
• cayenne and black pepper - optional

Experiment with this!

It's great in Shrimp Scampi, Chicken Stew, Chicken or Beef Stroganoff, and it's especially wonderful in all Lamb dishes. Also in sauces, homemade Salad Dressings, and on steamed, buttered vegetables.

Be Bold — Be Creative — Happy Cooking! . . .Lin

Beef Barley Soup

1½# lean beef - cubed

¼ lg. onion - chopped

1-2T extra virgin olive oil

Saute' the beef and onion until liquid absorbs and the meat begins to brown in a 4-5 quart pot.  Add a little water and allow to brown again.  Repeat this a couple times until meat is nicely browned.

Chop or slice the vegetables shown into the pot with the browned meat.  Saute for a few minutes, adding a little water if needed.  Add a quart of beef broth, ¾c of long cooking barley, the tomatoes, 1T of sugar and 1-2T of Rosemary Seasoning *


For a simplier, meatier broth, omit the tomatoes.  Simmer on low-medium heat for an hour.  Check the flavor, adding more seasoning or water if necessary.  This makes about 4 quarts of soup. . .Lin

Lamb and Vegetable Stroganoff

10oz. cooked lamb roast - cubed

1c sliced or chopped onion

2 stalks of celery - diced

1 carrot - diced
2T butter

Penzey's Black and Red Spice
Rosemary Seasoning *
1-2c lamb broth

4-8oz. sour cream
4oz. black truffle Alfredo sauce

Saute' the first group of ingredients until the butter melts and everything's sizzling.  Add the seasonings, a little at a time.  After all the flavors come out and blend, you can add more at the end if needed.  The black and red is a great blend of finely ground black and a little cayenne pepper.  Cover this and turn down the heat.  Let simmer on low about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook up some chunky pasta.  Just before serving, add the sour cream and Alfredo. Stir in some of the starchy pasta water to both thin and thicken it.  (it's magic!)  Check the flavors to see if more seasoning is needed.  As I was serving this, I remembered I have 8oz. of gorgeous mushrooms in the 'fridge - how yummy would those have been in this?  Also some really great frozen peas, which might also have been good.

However, this was beyond delicious!  It'll forever ruin me for regular (beef) stroganoff.

This would be a great recipe to also use with tender bison, elk, venison or goat, which is what the butcher at the European Market told me this roast was.  I love lamb though, so it worked out well.  And. . .I did buy goat chops!!!  So, if you love goat, stay tuned! 😉. . . Lin