Roasted Chicken with Rosemary (Kosher-Style Pork Cracklins)

Friday evening, Jay and I planned out our dinner for Saturday. I suggested that we grill something, so we looked through the Cook's Illustrated Summer 2006 issue on grilling. I was looking for something simple, and the grilled asparagus sounded easy and would also make a great side dish. I offered to make a roasted chicken. Amy taught a friend and I how to make chicken in three different ways. The absolute easiest recipe was for a whole roasted chicken, so this would be the first time I tried it on my own. What I loved about our selections the most was that all we needed was a whole chicken and asparagus. The other ingredients were ones we always have around.

The roasted chicken recipe was simple. Just butterfly it, stuff in some yummy herbs, and add salt and pepper before putting it in the oven. (Roast a 3 lb chicken at 475° for about 45 minutes.) I cut out half of the backbone and Jay thought it was the coolest sound ever. I let him cut the other half. I grabbed some rosemary out of the yard and found it a little trickier to slide in between the skin and the meat compared to sage. Oh well, I love rosemary so it was worth it!

The grilled asparagus recipe said that the spears would naturally snap at the point where the woody section begins. Asparagus naturally snaps in a lot of other places, too! So I only snapped off ends that were obviously woody parts. Jay grilled the asparagus while I talked to my in-laws (who follow this blog, too! *wave*).

I thought the best part of the whole experience was being in the kitchen and hearing sizzling noises from the oven and smelling the chicken. But the smell was even better when I walked outside and then back in again. Mmmmm!!

We sat down for dinner and ate all the asparagus and chicken. We loved every bit of it! We agreed this would make a great dinner when entertaining. It makes so much yummy food for such little work! Even the shopping was simple.

We had a bottle of Pelican Ranch Chardonnay that I bought with my sister Judy when we were wine tasting in Santa Cruz the weekend after Ironman Arizona. From their website: This wine is revered Los Carneros (The Ram in Spanish) sub district of the Napa Valley. It is extremely rich with a beautiful straw-color and generous fruit accompanied by notes of pear and apple. The creamy testure accompanied by vanilla and tasted oak accent a hint of butter from the complete malo-lactic fermentation.