Garlic-Lemon Roasted Chicken

Grandma Trigg used to make large dishes of what she called Lemon Chicken for us when my brothers and I were growing. Sometimes she’d make it in the oven, sometimes in her countertop electric skillet. Either way, it was packed full of caramelized onions, garlic powder, lemon juice, olive oil, and a heavy dose of Cavender’s Greek Seasoning. She always made it using bone-in chicken pieces, and it was never served without rice so you had something to sop up all of those flavor-packed pan drippings. It’s definitely near the top of my comfort food list.

These days, we’re eating less meat, but when we do we’re trying to buy from local farms. I’ve taken to purchasing whole chickens because it’s much more affordable, allowing us to be able to support these farms and their practices without breaking the budget. Whole chickens do take longer to cook than pieces, so to make it cook faster, I spatchcocked this one. (Spatchcock is just a fancy word for removing the backbone and flattening it. Serious Eats has a great tutorial if you haven’t done this before!) And, as much as I love a convenient spice like garlic powder, I love roasted garlic cloves and swapped out my grandmother’s go-to with lots of fresh cloves (about 5 heads to be exact!). This roasted chicken is loaded with flavor and will certainly satisfy any comfort food needs.

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GARLIC-LEMON ROASTED CHICKEN

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (4-pound) whole chicken (let rest at room temperature
  for 30 minutes for more even cooking)

• 1½ teaspoon kosher salt

• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

• 30 cloves garlic, peeled

• 2 heads garlic, tops cut off

• 1 small sweet onion cut into wedges

• 1 large lemon, half thinly sliced, half reserved

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425F. 

2. Place chicken on a cutting board, breast side down. Find the backbone and remove, cutting on either side with kitchen shears. Flip bird over, slightly opening the cut side like a book. Press the heels of your palms in the center of the breasts until the bone snaps. Press until the chicken lies flat. Place chicken, breast side up, in a 13x9-inch baking pan, and tuck wing tips under breasts.

3. In a small bowl, stir together salt, lemon zest, and pepper. Rub chicken with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with lemon-pepper mixture. Toss peeled garlic cloves and onion with remaining 2 tablespoon olive oil. Arrange garlic cloves and onion, heads of garlic, and lemon slices around chicken. Squeeze reserved lemon half over onions and garlic.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 400F and continue cooking until skin is golden brown and a meat thermometer registers 165 when inserted in the thickest portion (between breast and thigh). Remove from oven. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

We enjoyed this sliced and served over couscous mixed with fresh herbs and topped with the roasted garlic and onions and a drizzle of pan drippings.

Save the Bones and Make Stock

The benefits of cooking a whole chicken go beyond enjoyment of the initial roast. The bones offer so much flavor and goodness that they absolutely shouldn’t be wasted! Pick all of the meat off the bones and combine them with a quartered onion, roasted garlic skins or a new head of garlic, celery or parsley if you have any, any remaining roasted lemon slices, a teaspoon of black peppercorns and a few bay eaves. Cover with water. Bring to a gentle simmer and let cook partially covered for 2 to 3 hours. Strain and discard solids. Stock can be frozen for several months or refrigerated and used within a week.

Don’t have time to make stock right away? Freeze the bones along with any vegetable scraps from cooking and make stock when you’re ready. Just respect the animal and don’t waste those bones.

Butternut Squash Rose Quiche

Butternut Squash Rose Quiche

Makes 1 (9-inch) quiche

ingredients

• Rosemary Pie Dough (recipe below)

• ¼ to ⅓ pound butternut squash shavings (see How To below)

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 cup roughly chopped mushrooms

• 1 small leek

• Kosher salt

• Ground black pepper

• ⅓ cup shredded or crumbled cheese (anything works!)

• 4 large eggs

• ¼ cup milk

method

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Roll pie dough into a 12-inch circle. Place in a 9-inch pie pan and trim edges to extend 1 inch beyond the rim. Tuck edges under and crimp. Freeze while making rosettes.

3. Roll one or two strips of butternut squash together like a cinnamon roll. Depending on the tightness of your roll, you’ll need 35 to 40 roses. Place roses to the side.

4. Place pie pan on a rimmed baking sheet and line pie dough with parchment paper. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°.

5. In a large frying pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add leeks and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Carefully remove parchment and pie weights from crust. Spread mushroom mixture in the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle with cheese. Place butternut squash roses on top, open end facing up some space between them.

6. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Carefully pour egg mixture into pie. (try pouring between the roses to keep the tops from being covered with egg.)

7. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until edges of crust are golden brown and center is firm and set. Serve immediately.

rosemary pie dough

Makes 1 (9-inch) single-crust pie

ingredients

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon powdered dried rosemary

• ½ cup cold salted butter, cubed

• ⅓ cup ice water

method

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and rosemary. Toss in butter cubed. Cut in using a pastry blender or use your hands by pressing cubes between your thumb and pointer finger. Continue until butter pieces are small, about the size of a small lima bean. Pour water over flour mixture and slowly fold in using a fork. Continue until a shaggy dough forms and only a small bit of flour remains loose and crumbly.

2. Shape dough into a disk, folding dough over itself a few times if needed, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour or up to 2 days.

How to Make Butternut Squash Roses

Using a vegetable peeler, remove outer skin of squash. Working from one end to the other, shave long strips of squash. Place a piece of squash flat on your cutting board and roll tightly from one short end to the other. Place roll on the end of another strip and roll the strip around it. Repeat until enough roses have been made to cover the pie’s bottom.

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Savory Tomato Cobbler

I used to work for a non-profit that sent me on wild and sometimes odd adventures around the country. One of those times I was flying back to San Diego from a wedding and was asked to get off the plane and meet up with one our traveling teams in the southeast. I ended up in downtown Atlanta, in an industrial loft of friends of a friend, singing "Wagon Wheel," making food, and dreaming about tomato cobbler. I can't remember the conversation trail to how this idea came about, but it's been in the back of my mind since. While there are many things that I love about living in California, my southern roots miss the warm, carb-topped comfort foods that epitomize the South. Tomatoes, chicken, and biscuits are pretty humble staples of southern cuisine, but plenty of magic can be made from them. This warm and savory cobbler, with a hint of spicy harissa, is the perfect transitional dish from late summer into those early fall, cool nights.

I've included a few variations to this dish, as the both the filling and biscuits recipes can work on their own. The cobbler can easily be made vegetarian by skipping the chicken and going straight tomato or subbing for vegetables like roasted zucchini and cauliflower. You can also short-cut this recipe by using store-bought biscuit dough (but trust me, if you have the extra time, it's worth using scratch-made biscuits). 

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Savory Tomato Cobbler

COBBLER FILLING

• Olive oil
• 1 lb boneless chicken (optional)
• 2 Tbsp sherry or wine vinegar
• 1 small white onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground fennel seeds
• 4-6 tsp harissa paste
• 2 lbs of heirloom cherry tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp cane sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2-1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch
• Biscuit Topping (recipe follows)
• Heavy cream or ricotta for serving (optional)

Heat a wide pot or large and deep skillet over a medium flame and add two tablespoons of oil. Brown the chicken for 5-6 minutes on each side. Set aside. 

Reduce heat to medium-low and deglaze the pan with 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Add another tablespoon or two of oil to the pan and stir in the onions. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions soften and start to turn translucent. While the onions are cooking, mince the garlic and cut about three-quarters of the tomatoes in half, leaving a handful or two whole. 

When the onions have softened, add the minced garlic, cumin, fennel, and harissa. Stir and toast the spices until fragrant (about a minute). Add in the tomatoes and sugar, stirring until combined. Heat until the juices come to a soft simmer. Continue simmering for 20 minutes to reduce the tomatoes and lower the heat if the juices begin to boil or come to a hard simmer. Gently stir on occasion to keep them from burning, taking care to not break down the tomato piece too much. After 20 minutes, mix in the remaining tablespoon of vinegar, lemon zest and half a teaspoon of salt. Taste and add additional salt, if necessary.

Shred the chicken and fold into the tomatoes. Mix cornstarch with a tablespoon of water and add to the tomato mixture. Simmer for a few minutes, until the mixture starts to thicken. Remove from the heat. Fill a 10” deep dish pie pan, cast iron skillet, or other oven-proof dish of similar size with the mixture. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 400℉. Make the biscuit topping (instructions below) and place biscuits over the tomato filling, leaving a few small gaps for the cobbler to release moisture as it bakes. Brush the tops with the remaining tablespoon of milk. Place in the middle rack of your oven with a baking sheet or piece of foil underneath to catch any bubbling. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits are a nice golden brown and the cobbler is bubbling on the edges. 

Remove and serve warm in a bowl with a small pour of heavy cream or scoop of ricotta. 

BISCUIT TOPPING

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour + some for dusting
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cane sugar
• 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
• 6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese or sour cream 
• 1/2 cup whole or buttermilk + 1 Tbsp set aside

In the bowl of a food processor, combine all dry ingredients, minus the butter, and pulse to thoroughly combine. Add the butter and pulse a few times until the largest pieces are the size of English peas. The texture should be crumbly with only a small number of big butter pieces. You can also use work the butter in with a pastry cutter or by hand (like you would for a pie crust) if preferred.

Pour dry mix into a large mixing bowl. Whisk the ricotta and milk together until the texture is mostly smooth. Pour a third over the flour mixture and begin gently folding everything together with a fork, just until the wet and dry ingredients are beginning to come together. Continue in thirds until the milk is fully incorporated. At this point, you will finish the process mostly by hands (things will get a bit messy, but that's part of the fun). Knead a few times by hand until the shaggy dough starts to form a single mass. The dough will look a bit dry and crumbly. 

Lightly flour a smooth surface and turn out the dough. Gently fold the mixture together a few times to incorporate most of the dry goods. Press into a 1.5-2” thick rectangle, working any bits of dry goods left into the sticky areas of dough. Cut the dough in half, crosswise, using a bench scraper or knife. Stack one half on top of the other and press down to flatten a bit. Sprinkle the dough and work surface with additional flour, if needed, to help keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the work surface. Roll the dough to 1” thick rectangle. Cut the biscuits into squares with a knife or circles with a round biscuit or cookie cutter. The dough should yield 8 pieces. Use any scraps to fill major gaps in the cobbler top, or reform into a small biscuit and bake separately for a cook’s treat. 

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VARIATIONS

Chutney: Skip using the chicken and begin the recipe until you start simmering the tomatoes. Extend the simmer time to 40-50 minutes, stirring frequently, until they become thick like preserves. The tomatoes are done when you can pull a spoon across the bottom of the pan and it creates a clear trail with the tomatoes flowing back in to fill the space in a second or two. Add the remaining vinegar and half a teaspoon of salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. Remove from heat and transfer to sterilized jars for water bath preserving, or an airtight container and refrigerate for up two weeks.  

Biscuits: Make dough as directed until forming the initial rectangle. Cut into quarters and stack each on top of each other. Press down to flatten a bit. Sprinkle the dough and work surface with additional flour, if needed, to help keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the work surface. Roll the dough to 1.5” thick rectangle. Cut the biscuits into squares with a knife or circles with a round biscuit or cookie cutter. 

Place on a lined baking sheet 1-2” apart and brush the tops with remaining tablespoon of milk or melted butter. Bake on the middle oven rack for 20-25 minutes or until a deep golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and carefully move the biscuits to a cooling rack. Enjoy, hot, with soft butter and drizzled honey or a generous slather of tomato chutney.

Kohlrabi and Root Vegetable Hash

If you read the title and had a confused look at the word "kohlrabi" then you aren't close to being alone in that reaction. However, I would venture to say the chances that you've crossed paths with kohlrabi before are probably high if you frequent winter farmers markets or entered Whole Foods recently.  Kohlrabi is kind of like the cute black sheep of the cabbage family - doesn't look much like a cabbage at all but is rather beautiful and unique to its self in appearance and texture (see image below). Kohlrabi is mostly grown for its bulbous bottom but all parts of the plant are edible. When the crunchy bulb is consumed raw, its relation to cabbage becomes evident with the family's signature sweet and peppery taste. Kohlrabi is also an incredibly nutritious cool-weather crop, packed with fiber and Vitamin C. 

Curious about trying the delicious black sheep cabbage cousin? This breakfast hash recipe is the perfect introduction! Peppery bits of kohlrabi are well balanced with the sweetness of parsnips and sweet potatoes. And if cooked in a cast iron skillet, you'll get to enjoy lots of crispy bits as the vegetables cook in bacon drippings. If there were any doubts about love at first reading, the addition of lots of fresh rosemary and perfectly soft-baked eggs should fix that issue.

You can find the full recipe on Bonnie Plants' website and by clicking the button or image below. Happy breakfast feasting!