cook: roast chicken dinner

My husband and I went to Costco in the morning on our Friday off for Veterans Day. I normally don't give a shit about Black Friday sales, but Patrick recently suggested I get a ceramic enamel cast iron Dutch oven for all my stews and braises. He'd probably watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they evaluated cookware. And so I'd been pondering the $250 5.25 quart Le Creuset on sale at both Food 52 (where I bought my set of 3 nonstick frying pans) and Sur La Table or the set of 4-quart and 7-quart Tramontina pots on sale for $50 at Costco. I liked the heft and the quality of the ceramic enamel and cast iron of the Tramontina; surprisingly I also thought the teal blue color of the heavy pots was very pretty. 

I was going to choose oyster or licorice over the Sea Salt or the Caribbean or the Deep Teal colors I favored even more in the Le Creuset pots because I veer from colors as trends. I lean toward neutrals in my décor because I want tranquility and not distraction at household tasks. With these pots, I didn't have a choice on color, and that's OKAY. This cookware is produced at a more massive scale in China rather than in France, but I know I'll use these pots just as often. I justified the beautiful teal color as only having cost $50. When amortized, if I have used these pots only 10 times, then it will have cost me only $5 per use, whereas a Sur La Table pot, I would need to have cooked at least 25 times at a cost of $10 per use. But I know I'll use these pots a lot despite their cheap price. This is how I justify buying more expensive clothing--I wear my expensive t-shirts and jeans so many more times than I do outfits which I don't love as much but were on sale. I used to and hate shopping like that. It's the mentality still of my older and single female shopaholic neighbors, who are drowning in stuff which they later put outside next to the dumpsters in our condo complex because they are too lazy to even take it to the Goodwill. I love the millennials for their ability to say no to that kind of madness. Just stop buying junk and be more thoughtful of what you purchase if you can help it people!

While at Costco, Patrick also suggested we get a rotisserie chicken to eat for dinner. Nope, I said, we've got a chicken from Trader Joe's in the cooler, waiting to be roasted. When the weather is chilly, I love cooking dinner in the oven to warm the home. It had been one of those weeks, where I was at a loss over what to serve for dinner while grocery shopping. I walked over to the refrigerated protein case--Impossible burger or...? Rosemary lemon spatch-cocked chicken! I had bought also earlier in the week a bag of sliced brussels sprouts. Again it's more than okay to be served by convenience foods rather than slice the vegetables yourself on a mandoline. Even though Patrick had just harvested a bunch of white potatoes, I had two Yukon gold potatoes in my root drawer that were just beginning to sprout. I placed the chicken in my 10-inch cast iron and set it in a 375 degree oven for an hour.         

I decided just about everything was going to cook in the oven, and on a sheet pan, I spread the sliced brussels sprouts and drizzled olive oil and sprinkled salt on them. I put the Yukon gold potatoes in boiling water for 16 minutes before smashing them.

For the smashed potatoes, I chopped garlic and chives to fold with grated parmesan into butter before putting the compound butter on the potatoes and roasting them in the oven. 

 

The chicken was done roasting, and so while the bird rested in the cast iron atop the stove, I put the brussels sprouts and smashed potatoes in the oven under a low broiler.

 

And our two-and-a-half-year-old neighbor, Charlie had come over earlier to help me cook dinner. He's always starving when he comes over, and so I fed him truffle Marcona almonds and rosemary sea salt crackers spread with goat cheese while I sipped my Chardonnay. I love that this kid has an adventurous palate. And oops, Patrick started carving the chicken before I got a chance to photograph it in its golden brown glory.

 

T'was a fine dinner. Charlie chowed down everything and was thrilled that he set the table and got a knife instead of fork and spoon for his utensils. I told Charlie afterward he needed to take out the recycling at which he then remembered the Läderach sea salt caramel chocolate Patrick promised he'd get to eat for dessert at home...

 

....while I drank another glass of wine and ate my favorite mango lilikoi dessert of the moment.