So I was driving around in this chilly, crisp weather we are having, with a bit of wind and dreariness thrown in for good measure. It was around 4 o’clock on Friday, the time I start planning dinner. No, I do not always have a plan for those of you who know me!

I was craving something comforting and warm. Something that would fill the house with that smell I loved walking into with pink cheeks and cold ears when I was a girl. The smell of roasting poultry. I wanted my mother to make me dinner. I called her and she was already busy doing something else. The nerve! So. I wanted a big fat chicken and I wanted it now. Luckily Whole Foods was the next exit, so I peeled off the far left lane and headed for a parking spot. I picked up our CSA basket the night before, so I knew some creamy potatoes with bubbly cheese would be the perfect go with. I strode over to the meat counter, and lo there it was! An organic plump five pounder, and on sale too! Just 10 bucks for the bird, and I threw a fennel bulb in my bag for the next days’ soupie.

I remembered that I had a baguette on the counter, which reminded me of a chicken I saw Ina make on the Food Network a few years back. Something about roast chicken over croutons….also I remembered the end of a Nigella show where she dumped hot sliced milky potatoes into a buttered baking dish, sprinkled it with cheese and slid it into the oven alongside a chicken. Perfection! This is seriously how my brain works. Inside is a rolodex of recipes I have seen, heard about, watched someone make, eaten at a restaurant, heard a story about or made at my own restaurant. Each recipe is cross referenced by season, ingredient, smell, taste and most importantly, mood. Also in there are the ingredient lists you must have, stand ins for when you don’t have what you need, and points assigned for how much someone might appreciate eating that thing you’ve made depending on your love for them. Don’t ask me how this happened to me. I was born this way.

So the chicken.

Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Herbs

1 5-pound organic chicken

2 organic lemons, quartered  (you are cooking the peels too)

handful fresh herbs ( I used lemon thyme, lavender, parsley and sage)

1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced

3 tablespoons butter, melted

kosher salt

fresh black pepper

olive oil

Come home with the bird, snip some herbs to stuff it with on the way in the door if you are a person like me who has pots of herbs by the front door (or buy a mix at the store) and crank the oven to 425 degrees. For a five-pound chicken it will take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to roast. You can relax while it roasts! Wash your hands. Grab two lemons and rinse them. Grab an onion and peel and slice it. Grab a roasting pan and throw the onion slices in there, scattering them to cover the bottom of the pan. Drizzle them with a good amount of olive oil and season with kosher salt and fresh black pepper. This part will take you about five minutes. Seriously!

Then, quarter the lemons. Unwrap the chicken and place on a rubber cutting board. Pour a small amount of salt and pepper onto the board beside the chicken. Then you won’t contaminate the other salt and pepper! Remove the bag inside the chicken with the liver, heart etc….do what you will with that. I cook the liver with onion and butter, salt and pepper, and eat it greedily. The giblets are good for gravy. Then if you have a non-organic bird rinse inside and out with cold water and pat dry, or not if you have organic. Salt and pepper the inside, then stuff with one lemon and the herbs. Place the chicken over the onions in the pan, season with salt and pepper. Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter and brush the bird with all of it. Add the other lemon to the pan. Put into the oven. Set the timer for an hour and baste when it goes off. Bake another 30-45 minutes until the internal temperature of the inner thigh is 160 degrees. Let rest, then slice and eat with the onions and pan juices poured over the croutons.

Croutons

1 baguette

olive oil

salt and pepper

Cube the bread and heat the olive oil in a saute pan till very hot. Add the bread and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and toast, turning the cubes often. Set aside when they are browned. Serve with chicken.

Potatoes Dauphinoise

2 pounds Yukon or other small potatoes

1 1/2 cups milk

2/3 cup half and half

1 smashed and peeled garlic clove

salt and pepper

fresh nutmeg

1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

Butter a baking dish. Put the milk, half and half, garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper into a pot, and heat till simmering around the edges. Meanwhile peel the potatoes and rinse. Slice thinly in the food processor or use a mandoline. If you have neither, then slice VERY carefully into thin rounds. Do not rinse them! Put them in the milk mixture and crank it up to get the milk boiling, then simmer 13 minutes. Dump the potatoes and milk into the buttered dish and taste the sauce. Add more salt, pepper or nutmeg to your taste. Sprinkle with the cheese. Slide into the oven next to the chicken!!! Make a drink and take a shower. You have a whole hour at least! Pull out when the cheese is browned and bubbly and the potatoes are tender. This will be when the chicken is done!

Enjoy!

Serves 4 with leftovers!