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Better Late Than Never

It was a nice weekend.  I apologize for not posting before Shabbat.  I was distracted with another writing project (more about that in a few weeks).

We had a quiet shabbat with my cousin and his wife.  It was very nice to visit with them and we really enjoyed singing at the end of shabbat.

My cousin brought a Yerushalmi kugel.  It was very nice, particularly since I don't usually make kugels.

I was reading one of my cookbooks and I came across an technique for cooking chickens that I haven't tried before.  The first step is to split the chicken.  I started with two whole chickens. First, I cut out the backbones and necks with a pair of heavy scissors.  Then I split the chickens to make them flat.   

For the first chicken, I mixed up two tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon of crushed garlic and a teaspoon of fried rosemary.    I spread this all over the chicken (top and bottom) and put some underneath the skin.  This I let sit for about 30 minutes.

For the other chicken, I put in two tablespoons of olive oil, one tablespoon of sweet paprika and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper.  I spread this the same way, top, bottom and under the skin.

Top finish the chickens, I heated my large cast iron pot on the stove until it was nice and hot.  Then I put the chicken skin side down on the pot for about 5 minutes.  The whole think (pot included) went into a 190 degree oven (Celsius).  After 10 minutes, you turn the bird skin side up.  Its done about 15 minutes later.  Total cooking time is about 30 minutes.

Both chickens were very nice.  There is a layer of oil and spices on the bottoms of the pan that I just poured over the cooling chickens, but I could easily have made a nice sauce.

The original recipe called for laying a plate and a few bricks on top of the bird during the first 10 minutes in the oven.  I don't know that it would add that much.

To finish off the meal, I made a very nice Scandinavian cabbage soup.  Saute a few pieces of smoked meat.  Add one large onion and saute until translucent.  Add two heads of shredded cabbage and cover until the cabbage wilts.  Add four tablespoons of brown sugar, one tablespoon of basalmic vinegar and 12 cups of stock.  Cook for another 30 minutes on simmer.  This went over very well, except that my kids said it was cabbage with a little soup.

For lunch, we went out to a friends.  We did bring a meat roll  philo dough, ground chicken and smoked turkey.

Dinner - 10
Scandinavian Cabbage Soup
Garlic and Rosemary Chicken
Paprika Chicken
Yerushalmi Kugel
Spaghetti Squash
Lentil Dal
Rice


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