Friday Cooking Occurred

Turkey Tracks: March 4, 2022

Friday Cooking Occurred

First think yesterday, AC and I did the errands—after it warmed up just a bit. It was 6 degrees!!! here on the hill this morning.

On Fridays, I pick up my weekly dairy from Fresh Off the Farm.

But today I stopped by Hannaford’s first to get one of their organic chickens. I seem to be roasting a spatchcocked chicken fairly frequently this winter—about every 10 days or so.

On the way to FOTF, I stopped to fill up Girlie with gas—she was nearing the half-full mark. The bill was under $18, and I can’t remember the last time I topped her off. It’s been quite a while—several months at least. She is now plugged in so her battery will get filled up again. When I reviewed records during the tax process, I could see that since April 24th when I picked up Girlie (Toyota, Prime, Rav4 plug in hybrid), I have not yet spent $100 on gas. She plugs into a 110 volt outlet in the garage, and, no, I have not seen a big increase in my electrical bill. Plus, I got a $7,500 tax rebate on my fed taxes.

I had, on hand, a butternut squash from Hope’s Edge (local CSA) that also really need to be used. Roasted butternut squash cut into cubes and roasted is like eating candy—they are densely sweet and yummy.

And in short order, there was…food…for a Friday main-meal lunch…and for leftovers for supper, for Saturday, and probably Sunday lunch.

The wings and the drumsticks are my favorite pieces. I just gently boiled the Brussel sprouts, but when drained, I topped them with raw butter and some Penzey’s Sunny Paris.

For the butternut squash—which cooked alongside the chicken in a separate pan as the squash does not need as long a cooking time as the whole chicken (which using convection heat takes the chicken about 45 minutes). I check the chicken at about 35 minutes and baste with the pan juices.

***Roasting Butternut Squash***

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and seed it, then cut ”rings” of about 1 inch down the length of each half. Turn a ring on its side and slice off the peel. Cut each peeled ring into chunks and put these chunks on a baking pan covered with parchment paper for easy cleanup. (I have not used aluminum foil for cooking in about 20 years—it is toxic.)

Chop some garlic into fairly fine chunks and add to the squash. (Garlic falls into my category of ”there is no such thing as too much.”)

Herbs make this dish sing—and the best go-to herb for this dish is fresh rosemary. In the absence of fresh rosemary, use strong herbs or dried herb mixtures you like. Don’t use too much oregano though. It is the wrong taste for this dish; its strength would mask the sweet taste.

Sprinkle with salt—I like to use a little coarse ground sea salt. Go easy on coarse salt. And drizzle with a good olive oil. I use a spatula to mix all the ingredients.

Pop into the oven (350) and keep an eye out, especially if convection is used. When the cubes are sizzling and starting to caramelize, take the pan out. You can always pop it back into the oven for a few minutes to reheat if you need to. It usually takes about 30-35 minutes in my oven. Watch, as you don’t want the cubes to get too soft—so a higher heat and shorter cooking time works best. The convection makes the heat higher—so if you don’t have it, maybe roast without the chicken at about 400???

Enjoy!