Ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you I’m no Martha Stewart.
Sticking my hand into the carcass of a bird wasn’t my idea of a fun Wednesday night, but I did it in preparation for hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner party this weekend.
I started with a test: five recipes, dozens of ingredients and one goal — a Thanksgiving meal that wasn’t reminiscent of an all-you-can eat contest gone awry.
The answer? Portion control and the elimination of face-stuffing ingredients. The challenge? How to maintain the home-cooked, rich Thanksgiving taste while keeping waistlines in mind. By opting for a roasted chicken over a turkey, quinoa over mashed potatoes, portion-controlled green beans, cider and of course, dessert, my Thanksgiving weekend is looking to be glutton-free.
I’ll only be cooking for a couple of people this weekend, and determined to avoid food comas, I decided to break the cardinal rule of Thanksgiving food by roasting a chicken, allowing for smaller portions. With smaller size options and more flavour, roasting a chicken limits the drying of meat and can help cut back overusing gravy or cranberry sauce.
1 three-pound roasting chicken
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
Black pepper and salt
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
1 lemon
3 large cloves garlic, peeled
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth, skimmed of fat
1. Let chicken and 1 tbsp. butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove the giblets and excess fat from chicken cavity. Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water. Dry chicken with paper towels.
2. Tuck the wing tips under the body. Sprinkle the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper.
Set aside.
3. In the centre of a heavy-duty roasting pan, place onion slices in two rows, touching. Soften the lemon by rolling it slowly back and forth, applying gentle pressure. Pierce entire surface of lemon with a fork. Insert garlic cloves, rosemary sprigs and lemon into cavity. Place chicken in pan on onion slices. Cut about 18 inches of kitchen twine, bring chicken legs forward, cross them and tie together.
4. Spread the softened butter over entire surface of chicken and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place in the oven, and roast until skin is deep golden brown and crisp and the juices run clear when pierced. Check back in about 45 minutes.
5. When chicken seems done, poke into it to ensure it’s cooked.
6. Remove chicken from oven, and transfer to a cutting board. Let chicken stand 10 to 15 minutes so the juices settle.
Make it healthy by serving as a side dish and not as stuffing.
When I came across this recipe I was in disbelief that two of my favourite ingredients could be paired into one Thanksgiving-themed recipe. By pre-cutting the cake into small squares, you can easily limit your portion of this rich dessert.
The hero of the day was the cider punch. With flavours such as cinnamon, nutmeg and apples, it’s a Thanksgiving must.
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