local focus: Sunday Funday, PA Eats 2009
In our busy lives, so many have lost the rites of the Sunday of yore: A day of rest, family and gratitude. Let’s take it down for a slow jam, spread the table with local bounty, and raise our glasses in thanks for our family, our friends, and our smashing regional harvests.
WHO YOU CALLIN’ CHICKEN?
After finally watching the movie “Food Inc.,” I decided to familiarize myself with local farmers and their wares instead of always running for a “big box” store’s organic section.
My first stop was Hartz Natural Foods in Morgantown on Route 10. The (very) free-range chickens scattered as I rolled down the long, dusty lane that ended at the store’s parking lot. I was impressed with the selection they offered, yet immediately ashamed that I’ve lived two miles away for 15 years and had still been driving to Kimberton for what was offered right here. Regrets aside, I selected a beautiful chicken from their selection of hormone- and antibiotic-free, free-range poultry and beef. I also let my daughter pick out some organic produce before we went to peek around the barn at the cows.
There was something good about buying a chicken from the people who raised it, especially knowing the chicken had lived as a chicken is meant to: In the sunlight, stretching its legs, peering quizzically at the cars pulling in and out of the driveway as it scratched the dirt, looking for worms. And it certainly set the tone for the “specialness” of the dinner I was to prepare.
ORANGE YOU GLAD I DIDN’T SAY RUTABAGA?
Next, you’ll need some nice veggies to roast with your bird. Drive to Hurricane Hill Farm, situated on Reeceville Road near Route 82. For this recipe, I had great success using one large sweet onion (chopped into big chunks), carrots, and halved new potatoes, all thrown right into the roasting pan with the chicken. Drizzle them with olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and kosher salt and they’ll turn out absolutely perfect.
INTERRUPTING CHEESE
Cheese is kind of having a moment here in Chester County. There is even a website dedicated to that moment, www.chestercountycheese.org, which I consulted before setting out to assemble my own spread. Because every good meal starts with a good cheese plate, I suggest a trip to the West Chester Grower’s Market or Elverson Farmers Market for some Amazing Acres chevre. Or head directly to the source and visit Conebella Farm in Elverson during business hours to meet their Ayrshires face to face and sample their yield.
A NICE FINISH
Don’t forget a little reward for the cook. A bottle of Black Walnut Winery’s 2007 Mischief should be a fitting treat, indeed.
Remember that organic produce from Hartz’s? All I can say is their strawberries were more like tiny, succulent jewels of summer flavor that put any man-made dessert to shame. Cooking a meal that had so much love and pride in it – from its ingredients to its arrival on the table – left me feeling full as never before.
The Sunday Funday Perfect Chicken Dinner
One 3- to 5-pound farm-raised chicken (we love Hartz Nautral Foods in Morgantown!! Chickens are sold frozen so allow defrost time, 48 hours)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Unsalted butter
Olive oil
Carrots (cut into chunks or use a baby variety)
New potatoes, cleaned & halved
One large sweet onion, cut into eights
The pièce de résistance….One large lemon
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Remove the innards from the chicken’s cavity, thoroughly rinse the bird to clean, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. You want a dry chicken to eliminate steam so your skin will be crispy.
Salt and pepper the cavity of the bird to your liking. Salt the outside of the chicken with the kosher salt. Try to sprinkle it as uniformly as possible, and be generous. Repeat with the pepper to our taste. Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and surround with the vegetables, also salted and peppered to taste. Drizzle the whole shebang with olive oil. I like to melt some unsalted butter and coat the components with that as well. Now halve the lemon and squeeze its juice over the bird and the vegetables. Don’t be shy! This lemon juice will caramelize over the vegetables beautifully and add a very subtle zip to the chicken itself. It will not taste too citrusy, I promise. Place ½ of the squeezed lemon in the cavity and if you care for it, throw some fresh thyme in there, too.
When the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in. After about 30-45 minutes, lower the temperature to 375. Pull dish out to baste if there are any juices (there probably won’t be yet, but sometimes a little is hiding in the cavity). Cover the dish in tented foil and put back in to cook. After 15 minutes, a good amount of juice shall have appeared. Use this to baste the poultry and veggies, cover and cook for approximately 10-15 minutes more. You will know the bird is done when the legs feel loose where they join the body.
Remove the foil and allow the chicken to rest after bringing it out of the heat for 10 to 15 minutes.