roommate dinner

On Sunday night, I had my farewell dinner. I wanted to make something simple and elegant, but impressively delicious. This month's Bon Appetit, although a bit pretentious in my opinion, had a few Greek-inspired recipes that looked exactly like what I wanted. So I bought a couple of whole chickens and went to work. Unfortunately, approximately half of my dinner party had to cancel at the last minute, so I halved the recipe, and saved the other half for a roommate dinner tonight. :)

You can find this recipe on here. But if you are feeling like staying on one page tonight, I'll put it here, simply.

Start by whisking together 1/8c lemon juice, 1/4 olive oil and 1T honey. Add a couple turns of fresh ground pepper and a little sea salt. Also, preheat the oven to 400.

I decided to not be a spaz and do all the prep work before, so I sliced a couple of lemons and a few shallots.

...and lined my le creuset with some fresh rosemary.

I rinsed my chicken, and rubbed some of the lemon-honey mixture under his skin... Tom. Under Tom's skin. Then I shoved a sprig of rosemary, a few lemon wedges and shallot slices up his booty-hole. I respectfully laid a few slices over his bosom, and the rest of the lemons and shallot around his body. I sprinkled his carcass with the last of my chopped rosemary, and said a few words.

Pop him in the over and set the timer for 45 minutes. I checked in every few minutes or so with a baster to make sure he was nice and juicy. When 45 minutes was up, I covered the pan with foil, lowered the temp to 375 and left him for what Bon Appetit says should be 10 more minutes, but ended up being closer to 30.

It's okay though, it gave me some time to work on a few sides.

I sliced a baguette, buttered and parmesan cheesed-them. When the chicken was finished, I set the oven to broil and broiled them for about 6-7 minutes, along with my veggies.

Asparagus and mushrooms, sea salt and balsamic vinegar. Mmmmm.

It was really nice to have dinner with my roommates. We are rarely all at home at dinner time together. I like it.

Here's another option for a side dish. I came up with it last minute on Sunday.
Roast in a pan:
2 small eggplant, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped (1 yellow, 1 orange)
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 28oz can whole stewed tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped

farewell dinner 

I think this roast chicken is going to be in rotation from now on. 

What are you eating these days? Discover anything new lately?

m