poulet roti, over a bed of roasted farmers market parsnips, slender, whole, carrots, yukon potatoes, and a roughly split onion
-- yellow buddhist chicken, a little larger than 3 pounds, decapitated and feet removed. use shears at the joints and spinal connector of your choosing. yellow chickens taste better than white, chilled, chlorinated chickens.
-- rub and coat with: butter, cracked tellichery pepper, salt, and chopped sage, rosemary, and thyme
-- stuff with buttery lemon wedges, cracked cloves of garlic, and sprigs of aforementioned herbs
-- dress the root vegetables with a little olive oil, a little splash of water, the same chopped herbs and pepper, and freshly microplaned lemon zest
-- truss and roast at 390°f for 20 minutes for every pound of bird, then 20 more. don't bother to preheat. rotate and flip the poulet as you baste, if you baste, or even if you don't. it's done when it hits 165° in its coldest, deepest parts, usually its citrus core or the lower thigh.
monday, 2.19.24 - dinner
lemongrass chicken
-- about 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken thighs, ideally a yellow chicken. doesn't matter if there's skin.
-- a shallot; peeled and prepped for blending. the white tender core of a lemongrass stalk, two cloves of garlic. remove the growing center core in the cloves, if it's old and if it's been warm; it's bitter. split the garlic to check if you need to. a spoonful of cane or brown sugar, or a squeeze of honey. splashes of soy and fish sauce. the juice of half of ripened yellow lime, or two tablespoons of a younger lime; the volume is the same. pulse it in the food processor until you can't hear any chunks flying about. tap the food processor bowl and hold the pulser again, until you feel good about the paste texture inside, whether it's roughly blended or truly pasty.
-- throw all these into a ziploc, and make sure the paste coats all the chicken. marinate for at least an hour in the fridge, but no more than a day.
-- panfry the thighs on medium heat until one side is dark brown. flip the chicken and repeat until the other side is dark brown. put a lid on it and let the meat fry and steam for 2 minutes at the end if you know the inside of the fat thigh hasn't hit 165 from all the frying.
-- serve sliced on baguettes or rice vermicelli, with thinly sliced cucumbers, sriracha, and your favorite nuoc sauce.
