Don’t you love when one dinner can stretch into two? Not leftovers of the same meal but a different meal with basically the same ingredients plus or minus a few pantry staples. I do!!! Today I’m talking about how to get two meals accomplished with one batch of mostly similar ingredients. Our first meal will be a flat lay roasted chicken on a bed of garlic and lemon slices served with roasted carrots. The other, Risotto with fresh peas, goat cheese and roasted lemon served with chicken.
To intensify the chicken stock we’re going to use the chicken bits and pieces from the inside, as well as the back that you will remove. With the chicken stock we’ll make Risotto with fresh peas and goat cheese served with chicken, a fresh squeeze of roasted lemon and if you have few of those roasted carrots left over add them to the dish. You can add the chicken right into the risotto or serve it on the side. Which ever you choose it’s delicious.
Roasting flat or Butterflying a chicken allows it to roast more quickly and evenly. It remains juicy while completely tender.
Placing the chicken on a ‘bed’ of lemon and garlic infuses it with amazing flavor as it roasts. Seriously, this may be the best roasted chicken recipe EVER!
Be sure to save some of those beautiful roasted lemons for the risotto. The sweet juice (as a result of roasting the lemons) is delicious squeezed over the risotto. This is my very favorite, not even a close race, recipe for risotto. Look at this bowl…
Flat Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Garlic
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pound whole chicken
- 4 Bulbs of garlic halved horizontally
- Three lemons sliced into half inch rounds.
- 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Rinse the chicken, remove internal organs, set aside in a sauce pan and then pat chicken dry.
- Place the chicken, breast-side down, on a board so the back is facing up and the drumsticks are pointing towards you.
- Using sharp kitchen scissors or chicken shears, cut closely along each side of the backbone.
- Remove and discard the backbone or save with internal organs for stock.
- Turn the chicken, breast-side up, and press down firmly on the breastbone to flatten the chicken.
- Arrange the garlic and lemon on an oven tray lined with non-stick baking paper.
- Top with the chicken, breast-side up, tucking in the wing tips.
- Brush the chicken with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Roast for 35–40 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
- Internal Temperature with a thermometer should read 165°F
Risotto with Peas and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 quart organic chicken or vegetable stock or DIY
- 1/4 cup butter
- ½ onion , finely chopped
- 3 Cups risotto rice
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup or more If desired frozen peas
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup crumbly goat’s cheese divided.
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated
Method
- Heat the stock in a saucepan.
- In a separate pan, heat the butter, then add the onion, and fry for about 8 minutes until the onion is soft but not colored.
- Add the rice and turn up the heat so it almost fries.
- After a minute the rice will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring.
- Now add a ladle of hot stock and a pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a fairly high simmer. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring constantly and allowing each ladleful to be absorbed completely before adding the next.
- Chuck the peas into the stock when there are a couple of ladlefuls left, and add them with the stock.
- Stir until the rice is soft but still has a slight bite, then season with salt and pepper.
- Remove from the heat and stir in half the goat’s cheese and the Parmesan.
- Sprinkle the remaining goat’s cheese over the top and eat as soon as possible while it retains its lovely moist texture.
About the Author
Photographer Sally Roeckell specializes in contemporary lifestyle portraiture with an emphasis on food photography. Her Blog, Table and Dish is a website devoted to celebrating and curating the many ways that food binds us. Sally hopes that her recipes and images will inspire you to gather your friends and family in the kitchen to make memories, use the time to connect with busy kids, chat over mixing bowls, get messy, laugh, sing, set the table, clear the table, pass the salt, debate the days topics and pray. You can follow her here as a weekly contributor to 365Barrington and Heinen’s as well as via Table and Dish on Instagram and on her website at TableAndDish.com.
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