Image source: Merlina McGovern
This past weekend, my family and I celebrated Easter by having a delicious chicken dinner. Now, you might be thinking that a chicken dinner sounds a bit boring. But, not this glorious, buttermilk-soaked chicken, oh no. It was seasoned perfectly, with a crispy golden skin and juicy meat.
I grew up rarely having roast chicken, and over the years, various recipes for wet and dry brining, frying, spatchcocking, and a whole host of other methods have crossed my transom. It all just seemed to involved and time-consuming for a simple roast chicken dinner. It wasn’t until my husband and I watched Samin Nosrat’s Netflix special, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, that we discovered the perfect roast chicken recipe.
This is a fairly simple recipe that just has you generously seasoning the chicken and then soaking it in buttermilk the evening before you plan on cooking it. It also has fairly precise directions for how to actually place your chicken in your oven (you must rotate it regularly and place the bird with the legs toward the back left and then the back right of the oven) because convection ovens have parts that are hotter than others. This rotation leads to an evenly done chicken that is moist throughout, including the breast.
My husband is the chicken roaster (I made a lovely parmesan pea risotto; I’ll include a recipe below), and he stuffed the chicken with garlic cloves and parsley before putting it into the oven.
The result was simply delicious and super easy to make. It made a simple roast chicken feel very special. The recipe book has other wonderful recipes that we’re excited to try, and the recipes are accompanied by charming hand-drawn illustrations. Nosrat even included scenes of the artist working alongside her during her TV series.
What are your cooking traditions for Easter? Do you rely on family recipes, or do you use cookbook recipes instead? Let me know in the comments below.
Simple Parmesan Pea Risotto
Ingredients
1.5 cups of arborio rice
4 garlic cloves, minced
A few tablespoons of a neutral oil
1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
1-2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 cup of fresh or frozen peas (if you use fresh, make sure to add them in a bit earlier to cook them all the way through)
5-7 cups of chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Heat the chicken broth over low heat and keep heated throughout.
Sauté the arborio rice over a medium-low heat until just golden with a few tablespoons of oil.
Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant (no more than a minute; you don’t want to burn the garlic).
Add the warm broth by the cupful, stirring the rice frequently. You don’t have to stir the rice constantly, but you’ll want to keep watch over the rice so you can add more cupfuls of broth as the liquid absorbs into the rice.
Repeat step 4 until your rice is creamy and cooked thoroughly (about 25 minutes). Do a quick taste test to make sure that the rice is fully cooked.
Turn the heat off and stir in the butter and parmesan cheese.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
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