To Comfort and To Soothe.

With so much turmoil going on around the world, it seems frivolous to sit here and tell you about a chicken- the moistest, tastiest chicken I’ve made to date- I roasted the other day.

Scenes from Japan have been splashed all over the newspapers, with extensive coverage of the situation with the nuclear plants, how the Japanese who survived the horrifying tsunami have had to battle the freezing temperatures and power shortages and the Japanese Government’s efforts to boost the economy and keep investors calm in this dark, trying time.

Then, right on the other side of the world, there’s Libya and the civil war that put this previously little heard of country on the world map and in the papers for the wrong and saddest reasons.

If I could, I would send a roast chicken to every child, woman and men whose lives has been devastated by disasters or violence.

It might not be much but a roast chicken is, to me, the warmest embrace you could envelope a person with through food. It comforts and soothes the soul and has the uncanny ability to make everything feel better, if only for the moment.

While I worry about the state of the world, all the despair and angst in the world and how it will all impact us, a part of me finds myself thankful for all that I have.

Indeed, living in a country that has a stable and predictable political scene and is untouched by natural disasters has given me plenty to be thankful for.

A roof over my head, a comfortable bed to climb into after a long day, a family, darling boyfriend and bunch of close-knit friends to fall back on in spite of our geographical distance.. the list of things to be thankful for runs long.

So unsettling as it is to wait and watch as developments in Japan and Libya unfolds, wondering what’s gonna happen where next, I count my blessings where I can find them.

And this week, this roast chicken and my little thriving rosemary shrubs from which I get so much pleasure harvesting, feels plenty to be grateful for.

Butterflied Rosemary and Garlic Roast Chicken

Note: I’ve always struggled with getting the skin of my roast chicken to stay crisp once I’ve flipped it over in the oven so roasting a butterflied chicken was a revelation for me (no flipping needed and the skin crisped right up and stayed crisp!). Butterflying a chicken is way easier than it sounds. All it needed was a pair of sturdy scissors- you flip the chicken breast side down and just snip down its backbone. Flip the chicken again and viola, it should sit flat, sort of like an open book. It’s as easy as that and believe me, it will change your life

Ingredients
1 head of garlic, peeled
4 sprigs of rosemary, removed from stalk
Generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Generous pinch of sea salt
Glurg of olive oil
1 chicken, split down the backbone

1. Preheat the oven at 220C. Place a baking rack over a baking tray and set aside.
2. Crush the garlic, rosemary, black pepper and sea salt with a pestle and mortar. Add the olive oil and combine until a paste forms.
3. Place the chicken flat on the baking rack, breast side facing up. Loosen the skin from the breast of the chicken and rub half the mixture under the skin. Rub the remaining mixture over the skin.
4. Roast the chicken for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until clear juices run when the thigh of the chicken is pierced through. Let the chicken rest for about ten minutes before serving. Serves 6

Posted by thecoffeesnob on March 18, 2011

http://eatandbehappy.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/to-comfort-and-to-soothe/