Small Plates

When Love Hands You Lemons

The alternative title to this post could easily be, "It's Hard to Photograph Glass Because of All The Stupid Smudges."

Also maybe, "Don't Take Pictures By Pointing Your Lens Directly Into The Sun."  Anyhow, my sarcasm about photography aside, I have an awful lot of glorious lemons. And I can't bear that even a single one go wasted or unused because my dad sent them to me from his tree and they are delicious.

Watching Olympic athletes sweat always makes me thirsty, so I thought some lemonade was in order. I would never have been industrious enough to juice these by hand, but I did buy a simple citrus juicer awhile ago and was sure Ina Garten or Alton Brown could tell me how to make a really good batch of lemonade.

Ina did, in fact, though I modified her recipe of blending superfine sugar and water with the juice by taking the additional step of making simple syrup.

I can't believe how much excitement the blender added to this recipe. Instead of clear, the lemonade was almost frosty in appearance and absurdly delicious. I thought it would end up like a slushee, but it wasn't at all. Just very nicely cold. Suddenly, I don't seem to have an excess of lemons after all...

Fresh Lemonade

~5 lemons (should yield 1 cup of juice)
3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar (to your own taste)
1 cup crushed ice
4 cups water

Boil 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water until sugar dissolves. Cool.
Blend sugar-water mixture with juice from lemons, ice, and 3 cups of water.
Serve over ice. Resist drinking entire pitcher by yourself. Bon Appétit!

Small Triumphs

You know how you just don't do some things very well? Well, for me that has always been carving up roast birds. I generally watch, seethingly, as cooking pundits glide through the process, making it sound as easy as slicing bread.

But, lately, I've started roasting whole, free range organic chickens more and more. I love them, they taste great, and they last me for many days. I bought yet another free-range, organic, air-chilled bird on sale, and roasted it with my favorite recipe from my favorite, sauce-splattered French cookbook. 

This time I was determined to find those damn joints--and I did! I carved off the whole breast to slice into pieces. I found all the joints and only cut through a small portion of bone on one leg.

Apparently They are right. It does just take practice. Lots and lots of practice.

The lemons I used are from my father's tree in Los Angeles. Nothing makes me happier than when he sends me some. They taste amazing.

Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Thyme

1 bird, 3lbs-ish (any gizzards in cavity removed and discarded)
2 lemons
bundle of fresh thyme
salt and pepper
4-5 T softened butter

Preheat the oven to 450. Bring bird to room temperature. Thoroughly dry the bird and then salt and pepper liberally--inside and out. Place on a rack in a roasting pan. Slice 1 lemon into two haves, squeeze the juice and pour into the cavity, and then stuff cavity with lemon halves and thyme bundle. Rub the butter over the chicken breasts. Finally, squeeze the juice of the remaining lemon over the chicken and put the chicken into the oven.

After 20 minutes, reduce heat to 400. Check after about another 40 minutes, and make sure the juices run clear when a knife is inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, or use whatever temperature measurements you go by. (Standard safety measurement for chicken thigh is 170.)

Sometimes I find that even though the temperature is fine, when carving the bird, there may be some pinkish to red parts around the dark meat. I carve the chicken, and just stick the pink pieces back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. This way, you avoid overcooking the chicken breast.

Next up: When USPS brings you lemons, you make lemonade!