June picked at it, because that’s what she’s doing this week – toddlers! Always doing toddler things! I scooped mustard onto my plate, and we sat and talked, eating and not eating**, and one of us sang, because when you’re not eating, you sing. The chicken was golden and taut-skinned, juicy and glistening. I steamed some broccoli and squeezed a lemon over it, and we sat down to lunch. When the timer went off, we went inside, and I carved and buttered the chicken. While it quietly roasted – so independent, this chicken! – I managed to yank up a bunch of weeds in the yard-slash-jungle out front, and June played in the car, her favorite activity, flicking switches and turning nobs and stealing the emergency animal crackers I keep in the glove compartment, eating half of three of them, and hiding the remains in the console. But one Tuesday, late-morning – because Tuesday is my Sunday – I salted a chicken, TK-style, and put it in the oven. I’m rarely at home for lunch, and if I am, I’m a sandwich-or-leftovers-lunch cook. Slathers it with butter and serves it with mustard! SLATHERS IT WITH BUTTER! SERVES IT WITH MUSTARD! I will make TK’s Hot Buttered Chicken. ![]() And when it’s done, he slathers the meat with butter and serves it forth, with Dijon mustard* on the side. But he salts the chicken just before cooking, and once it’s cooking, he leaves it alone. Like Rodgers, Keller calls for a small-ish bird, two to three pounds, and he too cranks up the oven. Both are energetic cooks, not likely to balk at a complicated recipe, so when they recommended something so straightforward, so lazy, even, I went out and bought a chicken. Thomas Keller’s chicken recipe has been floating around for more than a decade, but I first tried it only last month, after two different friends in two different cities happened to mention it to me within a week of one another. Roasting a chicken the Zuni way is not hard, but sometimes I want to make easy things easier. Or maybe I manage the advance salting, but then I don’t feel like messing with the beast once it’s in the oven – remembering to flip it and flip it again, dodging splatters of hot fat, etc. Or I don’t plan dinner until the afternoon of, and then it’s too late for advance salting. Or I put it off, because getting involved with raw chicken takes resolve. It was the first roasted chicken I ever made, and when I get all the elements right, it is the best roasted chicken I will ever make. Zuni’s recipe, which Judy Rodgers wrote with a rare and reverential thoroughness – may she rest in peace, and may more cookbooks be written like hers – relies on three things: using a small-ish bird, salting it a day ahead, and cooking in a crackling hot oven, first breast-up and then flipped breast-down and then breast-up again. I have long been a devotee of the Zuni Cafe recipe for roasted chicken. More specifically, I want to talk about Thomas Keller’s Favorite Simple Roast Chicken, which I prefer to call TK’s Hot Buttered Chicken. ![]() I look forward to working with you all on this change and if you have any questions, please let me know.I come to you today, June 13th, a fine summer’s day on which you probably have no desire to turn on the oven, to talk about roasted chicken. Next year’s schedule (2019-2020) will be as follows:Įarly education builds the foundation for learning and we at Highlands feel that this is a necessary step to achieve academic preparedness. In an effort to meet the academic needs of all our students, Highlands will be extending our Kindergarten schedule. I want to personally welcome you to Highlands Elementary School and congratulate you on becoming a HAWK! Highlands is committed to meeting the needs of every student. My name is Ryan Sheehy and I am your Highlands Principal. ![]() The Following Email was sent out to all incoming Kindergartners on June 24th.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |