Thursday, October 29, 2009

A Salute to ReTorte and her Delicious Lemon Basil Chicken!

I’d like to give a shout out to The Wandering Coyote. She is a great writer, a kick-ass chef and all around cool person. She is also on of my favorite food bloggers, writing up and sharing some good recipes over at ReTorte.

One of the many amazing series she’s involved with is 101 Uses for a Roasted Chicken. There has not been a chicken recipe of hers that we haven’t enjoyed. The fav still stands at the lemon artichoke chicken (her recipe is Here) but I assure you…try any of her recipes and you’ll end up with a Coyote Recipe File like I have!


This is a recent Coyote posting from Magazine Monday and 101 Uses for a Roasted Chicken.

With lots of lemon and basil. Simple yet elegant ……and comfort food as well.



We found a big fat roaster – 6 pounds, it looked like a teen aged turkey – and wow, you ought to see the leftovers. With the lemon stuffed inside the cavity this assured the meat would be moist with a faint taste of lemon. I modified Wandering Coyote's recipe slightly using more lemon and garlic.




Ingredients used are..........

2 lemons
5 garlic cloves, 2 were cut in chunks and the rest were diced
1/4 cup minced fresh basil, divided
1 roasting chicken
1 tbsp butter, shaved
salt & pepper

Zest one whole lemon then cut in half. Juice the lemons and set juice aside.

Slice
two garlic cloves into chunks. Place sliced garlic, 2 tbsp basil, and an entire lemon, cut in half, inside the chicken cavity.



Place chicken, breast side up, in roasting pan and pour lemon juice over the bird and inside the little crevices of the wings.

Take remaining chopped garlic & press into the bird along with the lemon zest. Then I shaved off little pieces of butter, not much and wedged them into the creases and put a few thin sheets over the breast. Salt and pepper, put a bit more basil on it and get ready to roast.



Since this roaster weighed in at almost 6 pounds I roasted at 350 degrees for 2 hours.

The house had a tantalizing aroma of roasted meat and lemon...fabulous and really whets the appetite.

Now let it sit for 15 minutes if you can stand it....look at it all browned and garlicy and lemony..... mmmmmmmmm



Serve it with green beans and a glass of Black Box wine, the Cabernet Sauvignon went well.



We liked this one and it made great soup with the leftover chicken after enjoying two dinners.

There are many wonderful recipes you can find over at ReTorte...just surf on over and see what attracts you. Again, there are just so many that I had to select the most recent one I printed.

Oh...try her quesadillas! You won't be sorry.

Let me know which one becomes one of your favorites :D

32 comments:

  1. Somehow my foodie radar has missed ReTorte, but with a recipe like this I figure it must be good! I'm heading over to check it out.

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  2. I love Retorte and everything on her blog

    you did her proud!!!

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  3. That looks like such a perfectly done, jam packed with flavor...Roast Chicken. I am MOST CERTAIN WC will approve : ) ...!

    PS : You have recieved an award at my place, please drop by when you can. Thanks.

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  4. Isn't she amazing??? She was one of my very first "blog friends" and Retorte inspired me to start my own cooking blog.

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  5. Great way to use chicken! Retorte is amazing :)

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  6. oh this must have tasted heavenly what a neat name for a blog by the way

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  7. Why thank you, thank you! And lettuce not forget that you were the one who sent me the magazine I got this recipe from, so I cannot take all the credit!

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  8. WC inspired me with this one too...I ended up doing chicken breasts with lemon zest and pesto...

    it's a very good flavor combo! I was thrilled with it too.

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  9. She is one of my favorite bloggers also. This dish in particular caught my eye too. Yours looks wonderful also. Thx for the reminder.

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  10. Very nice - just want to sink my teeth in *dribble*

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  11. I admire people who give credit and kudos to others. That is what makes us a community. I am off to check out ReTorte and I hope others do, as well.

    You did a good job with this recipe.

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  12. Guess what? Your new post has a theme! Go to my blog to discover all about an award I have given you!

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  13. Love your perfectly done chicken! I've never visited ReTorte. Am on my way......

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  14. Thank you everyone! I have been offline for a week....a small injury...but I will be visiting you all and posting again soon! Hang in there! And THANK You ALL for the wonderful comments and support!!

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  15. that looks delicious, i'm craving some chicken now

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  16. Thanks for the heads up! Will definitely look into ReTorte. This looks delicious.

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  17. I'm not sure what is ReTorte but I do know your Lemon Basil chicken looks really good! haha... cheers.

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  18. I don't know how I missed this post. This chicken has the best color on it and looks so juicy - yum!!

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  19. Small injury?

    Oh no ... hope you ok *mwahs, mwahs*

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  20. Yum! Thanks for sharing! I found your blog via Kims. I am also excited to check out a Retorte. Your bubble bread bellow looks scrumptious too.

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