The road is covered with ice

For the past 2 days I’ve been experiencing cabin fever. I’ve been at home since Sunday and will probably stay in for a few more days because Atlanta is currently under ice.   On Sunday there was a snow storm–and I use the word storm loosely–that dumped 5 whole inches of snow on the ground.

That’s a lot of snow to people native to the South, but for us Northerners this is nothing.   The problem hasn’t been the amount of snow, but more so  due to the lack of snow plows and sand trucks that the city possesses.  The news quoted a paltry amount of somewhere around 10 snow plows and sand trucks!!   What is the point???   A city that’s becoming increasingly colder still relies on a warm day to melt the snow before it ices over.   Guess what?  We’ve had nothing but below freezing temperatures and rain so a thaw is not likely to happen until Friday.


*Sigh* oh well….today will be another day of movies, white wine and this chicken.   I am not a huge fan of the bird, to be quite honest the only bird that I love is Duck.  I find chicken to be quite bland, flavorless and too often dry.   What’s the key to battling these issues???  Marinating the chicken in a simple concoction for a day or two.   The result is a juicy, tender bird that is loaded with flavor.   I usually eat chicken sparingly but find myself gobbling down huge portions of this bird and…..drum roll please…it’s healthy!


Roast Chicken

marinade

2 cups orange juice

juice of 2 limes

5 smashed whole garlic cloves

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp paparika

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp salt

1 chicken bouillon

1 stalk rosemary, bruised with the back of a knife

1 handful of chopped cilantro


1 5 lb whole chicken, butterflied*

steak seasoning

3 carrots peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices

3 stalks of celery chopped

1 onion chopped

*To butterfly the chicken, simply cut the chicken along the backbone.

Combine all ingredients of the marinade and stir to combine.  Place chicken in a large ziplock bag and pour marinade over chicken.  Seal and place in refrigerator for 24 hours.  After  24 hours remove from fridge and bring to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place carrots, celery and onion in an even layer in a 13×9 baking dish.   Place chicken on top of the vegetables.  Sprinkle liberally with steak seasoning.   Place into oven and bake for  1 hour and 20 minutes.  If chicken browns quickly, cover with a foil for the remainder of the cooking time.

Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting.

I like to add cornstarch to thicken up the pan juices to form a gravy to serve with  the chicken.