A Fantastic Chicken Dinner

Yep I said it...it was a FANTASTIC chicken dinner!  Now I have to admit it wasn't perfect but it was darn good.  I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

I have to admit something before sharing last night's recipes.  This sounds silly I know but, I have recipe ADD.  I am usually not happy following just one recipe, and thus I mix and match recipes to come up with the right combination of ingredients.  Because of this some measurements are approximates, I tend to go by sight and smell when cooking.  I will do my best, I promise, to be as accurate as possible!

Now on to the good stuff....

The menu:
Garlic Lemon Roasted Chicken (recipe follows)
Quinoa and Corn Salad (recipe follows)
Homemade French Bread
and for cocktail hour....Watermelon Mojitos

Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken

• 1 5lb whole chicken (fresh or thawed), rinsed and patted dry
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 2 lemons
• 9 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 onion
• 26 oz chicken stock or broth

Let chicken and butter stand out for about 30 minutes to reach room temperature.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Remove giblets and anything else that might be in the body cavity of the chicken.  Rinse and towel dry chicken.   Sprinkle salt and pepper inside and outside of chicken; don't be stingy!
Next slice onion, 1 lemon and the cloves of garlic.  Place onion, lemon and all but 2 cloves of garlic on the bottom of your pan making a bed for your chicken to sit on.  Place chicken in pan.  Half remaining lemon and place inside of chicken along with 2 cloves of garlic.

Coat chicken liberally with the softened butter.  This step  can get a bit sloppy, but isn't it fun to make a mess??  Make sure you coat the WHOLE chicken including getting under the skin (my mom hates this part!).  If needed, salt and pepper chicken again. Pour about half of stock into bottom of pan.
Cover with foil and bake for approximately 1 hour.  Check chicken occasionally during roasting, if needed you can add chicken stock if it seems to be getting dry.  Remove foil and continue to roast for 30 minutes more or until the juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 180 in the breast and 190 in the thigh.

Let chicken rest on a plate for 10 - 15 minutes.  Meanwhile pour pan juices, minus the lemon slices, into a small sauce pan.  Make sure you get all of the good meaty brown bits off of the bottom of the pan.  The more "stuff" you get out of the pan the better your sauce will taste!   Using either a fat separator or a spoon, skim off the fat.  Simmer juices about 15 minutes, taste.  If too salty add more stock, if bland add salt and pepper to taste.

When serving you can choose to pour a bit of sauce over chicken or serve on the side in a gravy boat or dish.

Quinoa and Corn Salad

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups quinoa, thoroughly rinsed and drained (about 4 Cups cooked)
• 2 ears corn, kernels cut from cob
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium red pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• salt and pepper, to taste

Bring 2 3/4 cups water to boil in a small saucepan and stir in the quinoa and some salt. Return to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Add corn, red pepper, onion.  Cover and continue to simmer on low until onion is tender.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, cumin, chili powder, garlic, oil, and salt to taste; pour over quinoa. Cover and simmer on low until heated through.

Add scallions and cilantro. Stir thoroughly.  Salt and pepper to taste.