Fallen Souffle

Monday night is usually the night I make a typically “Sunday meal.” Something like a roast, or elaborate pasta dish or chicken. This Monday I wanted a roast chicken because it just felt like a roasted chicken kinda day. We woke up at 5:30am with a trembling black lab on our bed. Bella is deathly afraid of any loud type of noise like fireworks or thunder. She shakes uncontrollable and there is really nothing we can do for her but pet her and try to comfort her. She always wants to be close to us in times like these, so we always let her up on the bed or couch.

So anyways, we were plagued with nasty storms all day so I wanted something comforting and warm. Roasting chickens are quite easy to perfect when you have a digital thermometer. Mine was from Target and cost about $16 and it is totally worth it. This particular one includes an alarm which goes off when the temperature of your dish is ready. It’s amazing! It is perfect for chickens, pork chops or anything that you would normally have to hack into to check for doneness.

For this chicken I rubbed roasted garlic under the skin and shoved the remaining garlic bulb in the cavity. I them smeared a tablespoon of softened butter over the skin to make it crispy and yummy. Bake it at 425 degrees for about an hour and 15 minutes or until done (180 degrees internal temperature)

To compliment this juicy chicken I decided to try my hand at risotto. I have been a little intimidated by this just because you have to babysit this thing for 30 minutes while getting your arm workout for the day. It’s not something that sounded fun to me. But I did get the real rice from the Italian market and decided to give it a try. Though because I was catching up on a weeks worth of DVR-ed shows I was not interested in the constant stirring. So I broke a cardinal Italian rule by microwaving it- but it was SO MUCH EASIER! The microwave literally does all the work. I stirred it about 4 times total and the result was really yummy. I added a load of Parmesan cheese to this but you could add anything- peas, prosciutto mushrooms…yum! Evan even enjoyed it even though he doesn’t really like rice…but even he couldn’t turn down this cheesy delight.

Microwave Risotto
3 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
3/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a 3 quart, microwave safe casserole dish combine butter, garlic and onion. Place dish in microwave and cook on high for 3 minutes.

2. Place vegetable broth in a microwave safe dish. Heat on microwave until the broth is hot but not boiling (approximately 2 minutes).

3. Stir the rice and broth into the casserole dish with the onion, butter and garlic mixture. Cover the dish tightly and cook on high for 6 minutes.

4. Stir wine into the rice. Cook on high for 10 minutes more. Most of the liquid should boil off. Stir the cheese into the rice and serve.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 3rd, 2006 at 5:23 pm and is filed under Chicken. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.