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Francine’s Roast Rosemary Chicken

Ingredients

4 lb chicken, rinsed and dried inside and out. 

Rosemary stalks, plus 2 tsp snipped rosemary needles 

Shallot

Garlic cloves, crushed

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 Tbsp maple syrup

Method

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper inside and out. 

2. Leaving the bird in the refrigerator overnight (uncovered) dries it out even more which makes the skin crisper. 

3. Preheat oven to 375. Place a cast oven skillet (or roasting pan) in the oven during this process so that it absorbs heat which helps crisp the underside of the bird. Collected cooking liquids prevent the skin from sticking.

4. Stuff seasoned cavity with a few stalks of rosemary, and maybe a shallot along with crushed garlic cloves. 

5. Melt butter over low heat. Add maple syrup + snipped rosemary. Swirl to combine. 

6. Keep heat very low so sugar in maple syrup doesn’t seize in a hard sticky mess. Disaster. Brush the bird on all sides with the melted mixture. Place in a preheated cast iron pan (careful! ouch!) and transfer to oven. 

7. Now leave it alone (for 50 minutes). Lots of recipes require frequent basting. But really, just go live your life and then, towards the end of cooking time, baste the bird and jack oven to 450F, letting the extra heat do some work on browning the skin (about 15 minutes). You can baste 1 or 2X during this process if you want. Finished temperature is 160 to 162F, gauged in the thickest part of the leg. 

Suzanne’s Short Ribs

2 Tbs oil

2 Tbs butter

5 lbs short ribs

2 large onions, peeled and roughly chopped

1-2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1-2 stalks celery, roughly chopped

Head of garlic, sliced through

1 bottle red wine

Some branches of thyme

A bay leaf or two

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Put oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven and turn heat to high. Brown the ribs well on all sides. This will take about 20 or 25 minutes. Salt and pepper as you cook. As the ribs finish searing, remove them to a plate.

3. While the ribs are searing, put 2 tablespoons of butter into another pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes.

4. Remove the fat from the Dutch oven. Add the meat and onion mixture back into the pot, then pour in the wine and thyme and bay leaves. Cover and put into the oven for about 3 hours, until the meat is falling from the bone. Stir every hour.

5. Transfer to a platter. Strain the liquid, put into another bowl and refrigerate. The following day skim the fat from the liquid. Reheat, bring to a boil and add the ribs. When ribs are warm, stew is ready to serve.