Roasted Chicken Recipes

One of the most delightful and satisfying meals is roasted chicken. It's hard to get it wrong, the most important detail is the cooking time, which is 20 minutes/pound. If you don’t under or over cook the chicken you can’t go wrong. Find a whole, organic chicken. It will often contain a bag of giblets in the cavity so be sure to remove that before cooking. There are MANY ways to roast a chicken. Here are my two favorites:

Option #1 – Roasted Whole Chicken with Vegetables

1. Place the whole chicken breast-side-up in a generous sized roasting pan (at least 9x11)
2. Rub or drizzle a bit of butter or olive oil on the chicken
3. Chop 2 or 3 potatoes, 2 onions and lots of baby carrots or 4 chopped carrots and assemble around the chicken in the roasting pan (broccoli is also good, as is celery and any of your other favorite vegetables)
4. Sprinkle with Trader Joe’s Poultry Seasoning and salt and pepper and place in the oven at 350 F, 20 minutes per pound (a 5 lb chicken will be 100 minutes, a 3 lb chicken will be 60 min, etc.)
5. Every now and then place a wooden spoon into the cavity, tip the chicken so the juices run out into the pan, then baste the chicken (a spoon works fine) and stir the vegetables.
6. Chicken will be done right when the timer goes off! Check for doneness by cutting into the breast and looking for red juices, or tip chicken as in step #5 and notice if the juices are red or clear. When they are clear the chicken is done.

Option #2 – Roasted Whole Chicken with Lemon

1. Place the whole chicken breast-side-up in a generous-sized roasting pan
2. Rub or drizzle a bit of butter or olive oil on the chicken
3. Quarter 3 or 4 lemons and place inside the cavity
4. Sprinkle with Trader Joe’s Poultry Seasoning and salt and pepper and place in the oven at 350 F, 20 minutes per pound. (A 5 lb chicken will be 100 minutes, a 3 lb chicken will be 60 min, etc.) Occasionally will take longer when the cavity is filled so check for doneness by tipping as described above in #6.

Gravy Option: Pour some drippings into a saucepan or frying pan. Add a little boiling water to thin consistency. Simmer over low/medium heat stirring constantly adding cornstarch 1 Tbsp at a time to desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with brown rice and a crunchy salad and enjoy!

The Goods on Fat

Today a patient and I were discussing a whole foods diet. She was already aware of the importance of eating whole foods and had, she thought, transitioned her family to eating that way. She just about fell out of her chair when I suggested she try my Kid-Friendly Baked Chicken with skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs.

I went on to explain the importance of eating the skin and cooking with the bone in: the fat in the skin helps to assimilate the nutrients in the meat (and adds flabor), and the bone adds moisture and minerals.

I often find that my patients are feeling “deprived”- that there is something missing in their diets, a “soul food" - that they often seek outside of their meals. These are the people who are reaching for the chips and the ice cream. Perhaps what they are seeking is fat which helps them to feel satisfied and nourished from a meal and less likely to snack afterward.

Believe it or not, saturated fat, like that in chicken and meat, butter, eggs and olive oil, plays an important role in body chemistry. According to the Weston A Price Foundation saturated fat makes up more than half of the cell membrane as it is needed to provide the proper integrity to keep nutrients in and toxins out. It is needed to incorporate calcium and other minerals into tissues and bones. It protects the liver from toxins and enhances the immune system. Certain short and medium chain fatty acids (butter and coconut oil respectively) have properties that are antifungal and antimicrobial

I found a great article in The New York Times that discusses a study where researchers found that people on a relatively low-fat diet lost less weight than those who ate a low-carbohydrate, higher fat Mediterranean diet. The article goes on to discuss the effects of saturated fat on cholesterol levels suggesting that diets higher in saturated fat lead to better cholesterol levels than lower saturated fat diets.

Yes, you heard it correctly; in addition to tasting really good and contributing to overall health, saturated fat may actually be heart-protective. So go take a bite out of a drumstick and chew on that one for a while.

Kid-Friendly Baked Chicken

This is something that I concocted after my third child was born. Our meals were suffering as "the witching hour" corresponded with dinner prep time. One night I had a package of chicken thighs on hand and no time to prepare it. In a moment of desperation, I threw the chicken thighs into a baking dish, poured olive oil and soy sauce over the top, threw it all in the oven and said a little prayer. What resulted was a big hit with the kids (and adults!), and is now a staple in our home.

Ingredients:

One package bone-in, skin-on organic chicken thighs
One package bone-in, skin-on organic chicken legs
(figure one thigh and one leg per child)
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

Place chicken on 9 x 12 glass baking dish. Whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup soy sauce in a bowl. Increase amounts of liquid for larger quantities, keeping in mind that the chicken will make its own juice that will mix with the sauce. Pour sauce over the chicken and bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes, or until the meat next to the bone is cooked. Enjoy with brown rice, steamed broccoli with butter and a simple salad or raw vegetables. The sauce is delicious poured over the chicken, rice and broccoli, so be sure to make plenty this recipe can also be made with boneless, skinless chicken. The bones and the skin add more nutrition and flavor.