A yummy roast chicken dinner complete with potatoes and lemon-almond broccoli for four people for under $2.50 per person! What an incredible deal! But wait, there's more! This meal includes WINE!!!
Here's the breakdown:
wine: $2.97 (it was a "rollback" from Walmart, doesn't get more cheap-ass than that).
chicken: $4.44
broccoli: $0.69
almonds: $1.88
Divided by four servings, it comes out to be $ 2.4952 per person. You need more ingredients for this recipe, but if I had them on hand in my pantry, you probably will too.
If you have never roasted a chicken, you are truly missing out. It is super easy and always comes out tasting great. It's also impressive if you have company and it fills your home with awesome herb-y aroma. Plus, it is cheaper than buying a rotisserie chicken. It's probably even cheaper than some gross fried junk from KFC or Popeye's!
For the chicken you will need a few hours and:
a roasting pan
chicken
herbs (I used fresh rosemary, thyme and basil)
lemon pepper seasoning
olive oil
salt and pepper
potatoes to roast in the bottom of the pan if you want
For the lemon-almond broccoli you will need a few minutes and:
a head of broccoli
onion
lemon juice
almonds (slivered)
olive oil
sesame seeds
dried minced garlic
CHICKEN INSTRUCTIONS:
1. First things first: Preheat the oven to 325 and tap into that cheap bottle of wine. You will soon need it when it comes time to clean the raw chicken. No, I don't have a proper wine glass. This is cheap-ass, remember?2. Clean the chicken. It's not fun, but not as bad as you might imagine if you've never done it before. Just put it in the sink and run cold water through the cavity.
Optional: Flap the poor bird's wings while singing that annoying chicken dance song and have some fun.
If you bought a chicken that still has some innards in it, you're unlucky. You will need to get rid of those things. On the bright side, you could cook that stuff and your dog would probably love it.
3. Place the chicken on the rack in a roasting pan and dry the skin off. Don't skip this part, this is important because it helps the skin get crispy and brown!
4. In a small bowl, pour a few tablespoons of olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, and add whatever herbs you'd like. I used basil, rosemary and thyme.
5. It gets a little gross again. You need to get the seasonings under the skin where the white meat can soak up some herb-y goodness. Gently but confidently get your fingers under the skin and separate the skin from the meat by breaking the clear thin subcutaneous membrane. Spread some of the oil/herb mixture between the skin and meat.
6. Coat the outside of the chicken with the same mixture of oil and herbs. I also sprinkled salt, pepper, and lemon pepper seasoning on the chicken I made.
7. If you have a great probe thermometer that your mother got for your husband last Christmas, now's the time to use it.
8. Roast for a few hours. Since I used a probe thermometer, I just checked every 20 minutes or so to make sure the chicken skin wasn't getting too brown (if it does get too brown, make a foil tent and place over the chicken). The thermometer alerted me when it had gotten hot enough, about 180 degrees. I think it took about 2 hours to reach this temperature.
9. Remove from oven and let rest while you make the broccoli.
BROCCOLI INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Make sure the broccoli has been cleaned. Cut into florets. Slice up half an onion, too.
2. Get a large pan hot, really hot, and add some olive oil and dried minced garlic (just a sprinkle).
3. Add broccoli and onions and saute briskly.
4. Add a few teaspoons of lemon juice, a dash of stir fry sauce, almonds (1/4 cup-ish), and some sesame seeds.
5. This doesn't need to cook very long. Maybe 3 or 4 minutes total.
6. Plate it so it looks pretty and impressive.
Eat your cheap-ass masterpiece!
1 comment:
Looks delicious!!
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