let's roast a chicken

There is nothing easier than roasting a chicken, and the best thing about it is that you have a chicken carcass to pick off, to boil down into stock, and to enjoy for a day, maybe two, after the roasting goes down in your oven.

The key to an excellent roast chicken is to keep it basic and easy. No olive oil baths, no spice rubs, no stuffing it with fresh Meyer lemons or whatever. Okay, I lied. I actually really like to brine the chicken for at least 3 hours before roasting. The salt brine locks in all the juiciness and gives the bird amazing flavor. You will never go back. So if you have the time, here is the brine recipe:
1 quart water
1/2 cup kosher salt OR 1/4 table salt
1/2 sugar

Put it all into a stock pot, pop the bird in, and the refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 8 hours. Generally, you want to use a quart of water for every pound of bird, and the recipe above is proportional, so you have to increase the salt and sugar for every quart. Now, I have to say that I hate using up that much sugar on a chicken, so I usually cut it off at 1/2 cup or so. Maybe I would get a much better bird if I used more sugar, but it's so damn good anyway that I'm not concerned about it.

Now, if you choose to skip the brine, that's okay. Either way, you want to rinse Mrs. Chicken off. When you are done, you want to dry her off. Yes, take a towel and dry her down. Why? Because dry skin makes crispy skin, and that's what we want. One time, I went a little crazy and put the bird in front of a high speed fan for 20 minutes, and that was one crispy bird. I think I ate the whole skin in one fell swoop and then told Andrew that the bird came... skinless. Yeah yeah, skinless, that's the ticket!

Put her in or on your roasting pan, breast side up, and rain salt down on that bird. Even if you brined it, get salt all over Birdy. I like to put some fresh thyme on there too. Pop Birdy into a 450 degree oven and let 'er cook for 50-60 minutes. Don't baste her, don't butter her, just leave her alone. If you have a meat thermometer you can pull her out at 165 degrees. If not, yank her at 50 minutes, 60 minutes if she's extra-big (and she shouldn't be since I hope you are eating an organic, free-range, no hormone chicken.) Let her sit for 10 minutes before you tear her apart and eat her like the animal you are.

lamb stew

This is my favorite lamb stew in the world. It's hearty, easy, and delicious. The recipe calls for lamb shoulder, but I use whatever boneless cuts of lamb I have. You could also substitute beef. I think you could also substitute chicken, but then I would also use chicken broth instead of beef, and white wine instead of red.

LAMB STEW
2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes and trimmed of fat
2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs canola oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
6 garlic cloves, chopped fine
4 carrots, cut into 1/2 pieces
2 Tbs brown sugar (I skip or substitute with whatever sugar I have)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground cumin (I like to buy seeds and then grind them with a pestle and mortar)
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
3 cups beef broth

In a bowl toss lamb with seasoned flour until well coated. In a 4- to 6-quart heavy saucepan heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown lamb in 2 batches, transferring to another bowl. In pan cook onion and garlic in remaining tablespoon oil over moderate heat, stirring, until softened. Add carrots, celery, brown sugar, thyme, spices, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine, broth, and lamb. Simmer stew over low heat, partially covered, stirring occasionally, 2 1/2 hours, until thickened and lamb is very tender.

Serve stew over couscous or noodles or eat it by itself like I do.