Due to my completely chaotic schedule, I decide to start with what I believed to be one of the easier recipes. Easier because I've definitely made a few chickens in my day and because I knew it was something my wife would actually eat. I decided to prepare the artichokes first, and then let them sit while I prepared the chicken. To be honest, Jamie's instructions on working with artichokes kind of scared me a bit, and I wanted as much time to mess them up as possible. I had only ever eaten artichokes from a pre-made jar I bought from Trader Joe's, or by throwing them into a pot of boiling water and then dunking the tips of the leaves into butter. Not very creative and definitely did not require much work or skill on my part.
This recipe called for globe artichokes, Not only did I not know that there were more than one kind of artichoke out there in the world, but the pictures of Jamie's artichokes, compared to mine were shocking. His seemed to be the size of a small melon, very round and very colorful!. They went from a vibrant green, to yellow, to a white and then to a light pink in the very middle… Whereas mine just seemed to be a murky green color all the way through. I also learned that like apples, artichokes are not fans of air! I spent quite a bit of time on the first one -- chopping off the top, peeling back the rougher leaves, cutting out the hairy bit in the middle -- only to realize that it was literally shrinking and browning in my hand. I made sure to drench the other three in lemon juice, but unfortunately, had to toss out the first one.
Once they were fully cooked and seasoned with garlic, salt & pepper, lemon and butter, I was extremely proud of myself! They were absolutely delicious! So much better then just dunking the tips of the leaves in butter! I was definitely a little intimidated to try this new way, however now that I have done it I feel like I can take on the world! OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I definitely feel like I can take on a few more artichoke recipes. I definitely overestimated how cooked the leaves were going to get though, which is why Jamie clearly states to take off most of the brighter green leaves. There were times I had to spit out parts of the artichoke because of the toughness. Lesson learned.
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| Pan-Cooked Artichokes |
This particular chicken dish called for placing the seasonings and herbs underneath the skin of the chicken, which always seemed to make sense to me -- it gives the delicious flavors a chance to get up close and personal with the meat. One of my favorite all-time chicken recipes is to make a mixture of butter, bacon, lemon zest and garlic, squish it all together and shove it up under the skin. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember, and now I am realizing it is probably an Jamie Oliver classic. This one only called for oil, salt & pepper, basil, and parsley… But being that we are a garlic loving family and cannot really eat anything unless it is involved somewhere, I added two cloves of chopped garlic as well.
Once it was time to place the bird in the oven, I realized I was going to need a string to tie up the legs & "tuck in the wing tips." Luckily, I found some in the kitchen junk drawer, it was probably left over from some other obscure cooking project I did years ago. I'm still not sure what tying up the chicken actually does to it, besides making it camera ready.
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| Perfect Roast Chicken |
In the end, my wife cleaned her plate and complained that there were no more artichokes. I would say that means these two dishes were definitely a success, considering that she is the Queen of Picky Eaters.
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