It’s All About A Good Recipe: August 2013

I was watching a show on one of the food stations and they showed a chef who worked at a Hotel making a whole chicken in the oven at 450 degrees! I thought what? I cook chicken and beef on low temperatures for hours to insure tenderness and he just cooked this for an hour? It was one of their #1 items on the menu.

I thought about that recipe for a few days then decided to go and buy a whole chicken. I didn't look up any recipe I just did what he and that was basically put a chicken in the oven at 450 degrees for an hour! Now I did wash my chicken take out the stuff in the middle, pat it dry then rubbed it with butter and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I think he might have added some herbs and etc to the middle but I wanted a plain ole chicken.

He cooked it in a skillet (that can go in oven) so I put mine in a iron skillet then put it in my oven that was preheated to 450 degrees. Like he did I basted it every 15 minutes. It seemed to go by fast maybe because every 15 minutes I was basting it.

Because you baste it when you pull it out of the oven it has this beautiful brown color! I set it out to let it rest for 10 minutes then cut in to it. Tender juicy and done!

What a great way to cook a whole chicken fast and it stay juicy and tender!

place your chicken in your skillet then rub with butter, you can dot it with butter also like I did then season it with salt and pepper.

this is either after 15 or 30 minutes when I took it out to baste it

after an hour in the oven...it's done!

This one I made on Monday in my cooking class..... it was really beautiful!

1 whole chicken, washed cleaned (all the insides stuff taken out) and patted dry
3 Tbsp butter soften
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

In a oven ready skillet place your chicken inside then rub with butter then season with salt and pepper. You can also add a few dots of butter like I did above if you would like.

Place in preheated oven then every 15 minutes take out the chicken and baste it which is just basically taking a spoon or a baster and getting the juices from the bottom to the top of the chicken. This will insure a beautiful golden brown chicken!

After an hour your chicken should be done! Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes so the juices can redistribute back into the chicken.

I know we all have made tostadas and they are oh so very easy to make but last week I made two versions and really enjoyed every bite of both (not both in one day, lol)! I had some chicken that I had baked left over and some hamburger meat also. The first day I shredded the chicken then chopped up some fresh (not bagged) red leaf lettuce, chopped tomatoes and sliced red onion. I then drizzled some Creamy Jalapeno Ranch Dip I had in the fridge that I made the week before, only I just thinned it a tiny bit with milk so I could drizzle it on like salad dressing. I then made some Hot Sauce (click on both links for jalapeno dip and hot sauce for recipes) and guacamole so all I needed was the tostada.

I live in a town where there is a HEB grocery store! Years ago I was a diehard Tom Thumb and Kroger girl! I also bought my produce at a place called Cox Farms because it is soooo fresh and was close to my house. When I moved to Waxahachie my friends couldn't believe I didn't go to the beloved HEB that everyone loved so much and that I continue to drive 30 miles to the 'other' stores. My first impression of HEB was that they pushed their products so the brand names cost so much more and I am someone who buys the same brands consistently. I did though start going in for their tortillas because they are THE best! They make them right there in the store and they are so fresh, if you don't eat them in 2 days they go bad so we through them in the freezer on day 2. When Target added their grocery section several years ago to the one here all the sudden the prices at HEB dropped! When I would go get the tortillas I would see the FRESH produce so I started buying tortillas and produce until one day I noticed most of their things are priced identical to Wal Mart! So now HEB is my #1 store and the others are down the list. I still go to the others and Cox Farm is one of my favorite place, it's just nice to find a store local with great produce.