I Don't Want To Tell You The Truth

Today I read an interview with the great Tilda Swinton, in which she said the most remarkable thing:

I don't want to tell you the truth, which is that I'm absolutely making everything up as I go along and I'm not aware of having a career at all, let alone a career path. I'm aware of having a life and I'm very invested in my life.

I'm making all this up, too. I started cooking because I was hungry and poor, and didn't live at home anymore. I keep cooking because I get hooked on dishes, tastes, styles, and techniques. I like preparing dinner for friends, setting a beautiful table -- choosing wine. The cookbooks I like best are written by people I'd like to cook with and drink with. When I'm tense or feeling out of sorts, the simple acts of dicing, sauteing, and whisking are soothing as a tonic.

If you're new to cooking but want to take a deeper dive, pick a dish that you love and make it over and over. I took on roast chicken, and I've prepared it a thousand times. Yet it never fails to comfort me. Spouse and I have noticed that the children also calm down when they smell chicken roasting, onions sauteing in butter, or meat braising gently in tomatoes, herbs, and stock.

Here's my take on roast chicken. Roast chicken is very forgiving and difficult to render inedible, and guaranteed to calm you right down.

Music: Laura Nyro
Drink: Burgans Albarino

Food items:

1 pastured chicken
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
any fresh herbs you like but esp. thyme or tarragon
salt and pepper
small glass of the Albarino you're sipping

Rinse chicken thoroughly inside and out, reserving any feet or necks for stock. Cut away any clumps of fat in the cavity.

Wipe chicken dry and massage with butter herb/mixture. Lightly dust with s&p.

Lots of people will tell you to stuff the cavity with all manner of things (lemons, herbs, half an onion) but I don't bother. You can if you want, but be careful to empty the cavity of excess fluid while roasting.

Heat a sturdy saute pan over a medium high burner, and place the buttered chicken in the pan when the pan is hot enough to make a big sizzle.

Pop the chicken in a very hot (425 to 450, depending on size of bird) for about 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350, and pour a small glass of wine around -- but not over -- the bird.

Continue to roast until done (I jiggle the leg) but you can use a meat thermometer.

You can flip the bird around while it roasts, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to me.

Let chicken rest 15 minutes before carving while you make a quick pan sauce. If there are bits of fat clinging to the pan, scrape them out or place the pan over a high flame to render the rest of the fat. Pour off excess fat and deglaze pan with stock, water, wine, or port. Be sure to scrape up all the brown bits and let the liquid reduce a bit. Off heat, whisk in a tbsp or two of unsalted butter.

Pour sauce over chicken, and serve with roasted potatoes and a green salad -- or anything you like. Be sure to save the carcass (along with your feet and neck) for making stock. If you won't be making the stock the next day, freeze the carcass and use it within a month.