what do you want to eat?

roast chicken and vegetable pizza

Yet again I am without a picture.  I meant to take a photo today, but Denny and I ate the leftovers before I remembered.  lol!  Oh well, next time.  I did manage to get a photo of the double roast chicken that I made again this weekend.  Man is it good.  This time I added some vegetables around the chicken about 30 minutes before it was done cooking and also added a tray of veggies on a lower rack.  For the veggies, I melted 1 tablespoon of butter in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.  I tossed in chopped rosemary and chopped garlic and let it simmer and flavor the oil.  Then, I poured the mixture on my veggies and tossed to coat.  I sprinkled on some salt and put them in to roast with the chickens.

Now, onto the featured recipe.  I used my leftover veggies and some of my leftover chicken to make pizza last night. 

Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Pizza

pizza dough (or premade crust)

1-2 tablespoons pesto (homemade or store bought)

1/2 cup of ricotta cheese (I didn't measure, so this is a generous guesstimate)

freshly grated parmesan cheese

leftover roast chicken (or rotisserie or whatever leftovers you have), chopped or shredded

leftover roasted veggies, chopped as small as you like

a couple of handfuls of mozzerella cheese

1/2-1 tsp. of chopped fresh rosemary

 I rolled out my own pizza dough (from my treasured Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book) and topped it with homemade pesto (I typically use one ice cube sized cube of pesto and add a little olive oil to thin it out).  Spread the pesto around almost to the edges.  Then, smooth over some ricotta cheese.  It will mix with the pesto a little bit and make a nice base for your pizza.  Grate some parmesan cheese on top of the pesto/ricotta mixture.  Then, top with the roasted vegetables and the roasted chicken.  I don't have quantities here, just use as much as you like.  Toss a couple of handfuls of mozzerella cheese on top (again, as much or as little as you like) and then sprinkle on the chopped rosemary.  Bake according to your pizza crust instructions and enjoy!

Double Roast Chicken

This photo is a Roast Chicken I made last year...I didn't get a photo of yesterday's Double Roast Chicken.  

We had some friends over for Easter dinner yesterday, and I planned on making two Roasted Chickens (I got two pack of whole chickens from Sam's Club...a good deal).  Last year, when I made the chicken you see above, I used a combination of recipes, but didn't write down what I did in a timely manner and forgot some of the details.  So, I did my google search and turned up a couple of recipes to pull from.

The first was from marthastewart.com, and really, all I got from this one was my cooking time for two chickens.  Although some of her method is similar to my second source: Tyler Florence and his Ultimate Roast Chicken.  I changed a few things around to it my ingredients (or lack there of) and altered his cooking time just a bit for the bacon on top.  Here's what I did:

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Double Roast Chicken

2 whole chickens (about 4 pounds each)

1 stick of butter, softened at room temperature

fresh herbs: thyme, rosemary and marjoram (note on herbs: I bought two packs of mixed herbs at the grocery store since it was all they had...a poultry mix and a "classic" herb mix that both had my main herbs, thyme and rosemary.  I also threw in the majoram that came in the pack.)

garlic powder

salt and pepper

2 lemons

2-3 onions

1 head of garlic

8 strips of smoked bacon

2 tablespoons of flour

1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 425º.

Before handling the chicken, get all of your other ingredients ready (so you aren't having to wash your hands 10 times).  Chop up half of your herbs and mash them together with the butter.  Set aside the rest of the herbs and leave them whole.  Make up a small bowl of coarse salt, freshly ground pepper and a bit of garlic powder.  Slice the lemons in half, and the onions into quarters.  Separate your garlic cloves and give them a smash (you don't have to peel them since they are going inside the bird).

Rinse each chicken and pat dry.  I placed the wet chickens on a bed of paper towels and that helped soak up the water on one side.  Place the chickens in your roasting pan (I used a large 2 inch deep roasting pan).  Slide a knife underneath the skin to loosen it up a bit.  Divide the butter mixture into four parts.  Rub one part under the skin of each chicken, and the other part on the outside of each chicken.  Sprinkle the salt and pepper mixture all over the outside and inside of the chicken.  Stuff each chicken with 1 half of lemon, a couple of garlic cloves, some onion, more garlic and the whole herbs.  Stop up the hole with the other half of the lemon.  At this point, you can tie the chickens' legs together.  I didn't have any kitchen twine and left mine untied and it turned out just fine.  Lay 4 strips of bacon over each chicken and scatter any remaining onions around the chickens.

Roast for an hour (or until the bacon is crisp).  Remove the bacon and baste with the juices.  Roast for another half an hour until the chicken is golden and the internal temperature is 180º (check the thigh).  Take them out and let them rest for 20 minutes so the juices can redistribute.

If you want gravy, remove the chickens to a platter and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the crusty bits off of the bottom of your pan.  You can make the gravy right in your roasting pan, or transfer the juices to another pan.  Put the juices over medium-high heat and stir in the flour.  Let it cook for a minute and stir it until it turns into a paste.  Add the chicken broth a little at a time and whisk it in to prevent lumps.  Check for seasonings and add salt and pepper to taste.  

Before serving the chicken, take out the lemon and squeeze it over the top.  Enjoy!