Roast Chicken + Butternut Squash Soup

Roast Chicken

(Brine by Shirley Corriher, Roast and stuff by Julia Child)

- 3.5 lb. Fulton Valley Farm chicken from Guerra's.

- Clean chicken and giblets

- Brine chicken:  Cover chicken in salt.  Put chicken in a pot and cover with water.  Put everything in the fridge for 3 hours. 

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

- Rub chicken with olive oil and pepper mixture.  Put on v-rack in orange pan.

- Stuff chicken cavity with 1 meyer lemon (thinly sliced), 1/4 red onion, handful of thyme.  Put leftover 1/4 of the red onion and thyme in the bottom of the pan.  (By mistake, I poured some water in the bottom of the pan.)

- Tie legs together with twine.  Turn bird breast side up.

- Roast for 15 minutes at 425 F.  Baste with drippings/olive oil.

- Lower temperature to 350F.

- Roast for about 1 hour (basting every 15 minutes), or until juices run clear.  An extra 7 minutes per extra pound.  

- Bittman doneness temperature:  breast 160F, thigh 165F.

Butternut Squash Soup

- Preheat oven to 400

- Cut 3 small butternut squash (4.5 lbs total) in half, slather in olive oil, bake cut side up for 35-40 minutes, remove the hollow bits, then bake the rest for another 10 minutes

- Meanwhile, cut 2 tart (granny smith) apples in half, core, and roast them cut side up for 30-35 minutes with the squash.

- Find your immersion blender

- Saute for 15 minutes in olive oil (in French oven):  chicken giblets (remove when browned), 1/2 chopped red onion, 4 cloves garlic, 1 small bunch of chopped carrots, 1 dried bay leaf, 1 cinnamon stick, minced ginger.

- Remove bay leaf.

- Prepare 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper, 1/3 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- Skin and chop squash.  Chop apples with skin on.  Add them to the sauteed vegetables, and add water to cover.  Bring to a simmer and turn off heat.

- Blend everything thoroughly

- Bring temperature back up.  

- Add nutmeg, white pepper.

- Add milk or cream to taste.  (I don't add salt.)

Ingredients list:

3.5 lb. Fulton Valley Farm chicken

4.5 lb. butternut squash (3 small ones)

2 large granny smith apples

1 really small bunch of carrots

1 large red onion

1 small fresh ginger root from Rainbow

1 bunch of thyme from the garden

1 meyer lemon

milk and/or cream

garlic

1 dried bay leaf

whole nutmeg

cinnamon stick

olive oil

salt for brining

black pepper

white pepper