Roast Chicken with Tarragon Cream Sauce

Just when you thought that roast chicken
couldn't get any more delicious, I give you ~

Roast Chicken with a Tarragon Cream Sauce.
 Yes! Everything gets even more yummy whenyou add cream. Such a simple thing.

OK, I may be overselling this one because the man

in my house loves roast chicken. We're sauce 

people too and this one makes you close your 

eyes with the first saucy bite and go...mmmmm... 

Nothing complicated here either.

 Rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat dry with

a paper towel. Put it on a rack in a roasting 

pan. Coat the skin with the softened butter. 

 Season generously with salt, pepper

 and tarragon. No need to measure.

 Now pop it into a 350º oven for 1 hour.

It will get a beautiful crispy golden brown.

 So far so good. Now take it to the next level.

 Remove from the oven and pour 1/2 of

of the cream over the chicken and pop it

back into the oven for another 30 minutes.

This would be a good time to start the rice

and prep any sides you are having.

 Remove the chicken from the oven and

tilt it so that the cavity juices 

are  added to the pan drippings. 

 Put the chicken on a platter

and let it rest while you finish the sauce.

Just look at that golden deliciousness. 

 Add the remaining cream to the dripping

in the pan, whisk and bring to boil. 

 Give it a taste and add more salt, pepper,

 and tarragon as needed. 

 Let the sauce boil to reduce a bit, 

about 2 minutes. Whisk occasionally.

Slice the chicken and serve with a generous 

amount of sauce. Pour the remaining sauce

 into a sauceboat so that you can add 

more at the table and over your rice. 

Roast Chicken with Tarragon
 Cream Sauce

1 3-5 lb whole chicken

1 T butter, softened

1/2t salt & 1/4t pepper

1-2 t dried tarragon

1/2 pt. heavy cream

Rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry

with a paper towel. Rub with the butter.

Sprinkle generously with salt & pepper, 

and half the tarragon. Roast on a rack in 

a 350º oven for 1 hour. Baste with 1/2 of 

the cream (1/2C). Roast another 30  minutes.

 Drain juices from the chicken cavity into

 the roasting pan as you remove the chicken 

to a platter. Add the remaining 1/2C cream 

to the roasting pan and bring to a boil and

slightly reduce, scraping up any browned bits.

Correct the seasoning with more salt, pepper, and

tarragon as needed. Serve the chicken with a 

generous amount of the sauce.

Complete the dinner with rice and vegetable.

Enjoy!

Bonus: Since it's just the 2 of us, we'll have

leftovers. 2 meals plus soup. So good!

PS: I save the carcass and bones

and make a small pot of chicken soup

the next day. 

Links: Between Naps on The Porch

Creamy Baked Chicken

September is a busy month with back to school

and new schedules so you'll need a few 

Easy Weeknight Dinners!

Here's an easy chicken recipe that's put together

 in minutes and popped in the oven.  It's a
variation of a few others I make so you can
change it up a bit.  It's also a good one to
remember when you're out of onion soup mix
for one of my other chicken recipes. 

(Links to all my easy chicken recipes
at the end of this post)

 Combine the sauce ingredients: soup, water,
sour cream, chives, and seasonings.

 You can use a can of sliced mushrooms, drained. 

I prefer fresh, sauteed in a small pan with a little

 oil or butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. 

Add mushrooms to the sauce.

 Lay the chicken breasts in a buttered casserole. 

If the breasts are large, cut them in half. 

It makes it easier to serve. 

 Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle 

the top with paprika. You can prepare it ahead

to this point. Cover with wrap and refrigerate

until ready to bake. Bring to room temperature.

Bake @390º for about 40 minutes, uncovered. 

Sprinkle the top with additional chives before
serving. We're sauce people, so anything with
a sauce is good.  It boosts the flavor of the
 main dish and we love sauce ladled on our choice
 of sides like: rice, noodles or potatoes.
I like to serve this with Uncle Ben's 

Wild Rice Mix or Rice Pilaf Mix
and a green vegetable.

Creamy Baked Chicken
3-4 chicken breasts, boneless
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 C water
1 C fresh sliced mushrooms, lightly sauteed
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 t chives, dried or fresh (plus more for topping)
1/2 t onion powder, 1/2 t garlic powder, 
1/2 t salt, 1/4 t pepper
1/2 t paprika for sprinkling on top
If the chicken breasts are large, cut them in half and lay in the bottom of a greased 9"x13" baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients, except paprika and pour over the chicken. Sprinkle the top with paprika. Bake @350º for 35-40 minutes, just until the chicken is cooked. Sprinkle more chopped chives on top before serving if desired.
Serve with the sauce along with rice, and a vegetable or salad
* you can also use a whole cut-up chicken, just cook longer; about 1 hour.
* you can also use cream of chicken soup instead of mushroom
* you can also just use a can of drained mushrooms instead of fresh.

Enjoy!

Links to my other Easy chicken recipes:
The Easiest Chicken and Rice Dinner..EVER!
Apricot Chicken
Oven Chicken and Vegetables Parmesan
Honey Boo Boo Chicken
Oven Chicken Cacciatore
Parmesan Crusted Chicken
Mustard Chicken
Baked Greek Chicken
Cranberry Glazed Chicken
Duck Duck Chicken
Sunday Chicken
Swiss Chicken Bake
Perfect Roast Chicken
Cathy's Curry Chicken


Links: Between Naps on The Porch,
The Scoop, Dwellings, Coastal Charm,
Rattlebridge Farm, The Charm Of Home,
My Romantic Home,

Cast Iron Splayed Roast Chicken

Just when you thought you didn't need yet another

way to roast a chicken I give you this one. 

The reason I love it is because I can have

 a roast chicken for dinner in half the time. 

The skin is crispy all over and the inside is 

cooked evenly and juicy. Plus I get to use my

favorite pan, the cast iron skillet. 

Here we go. First put a 12" cast iron pan in 

 the oven and turn it on to 425º to preheat. 

Rinse the chicken inside and out. This was

a Purdue roaster, about 4.5 pounds. Dry the 

outside all over with paper towel. Squeeze

a lemon over the outside and inside, then 

tuck the lemon wedges in the cavity. I 

also added a few herbs from my garden. 

Next, you need to splay the chicken. 

Cut through the skin where it attaches 

between the leg and the breast. Then 

break the bone so that the legs lay flat. 

Drizzle with olive oil and rub it over the skin.

Season generously with salt, pepper, and 

you choice of seasonings, I added ½ t 

paprika this time. 

 Carefully remove the preheated HOT skillet from

 the oven and put the chicken in the pan. You'll

 hear a nice ssss! sear!

 This method allows the legs to cook

 evenly with the breast. Put it back in 

the oven for 45 minutes. You can prep it 

however you like, just be sure to use oil

all over the outside and season. 

Remove from the oven and press down on the

 lemon to release any juice, then tilt the bird

 so all the juices in the cavity go into the pan. 

Allow to rest for 10 minutes. 

Serve with pan juices.   

 Remember to save all the bones for chicken 

soup. I also had enough leftover chicken to 

make chicken salad this week. It's 2 more 

 reasons why I love roast chicken for dinner. 

Enjoy!

Links: Between Naps On The Porch

How to Make Perfect Roast Chicken

This is the LBD (little black dress) of dinner recipes. It's great comfort food dinner for two or the family, and you can dress it up for company by just changing the accessories (sides). This is a recipe you should know from memory to have in your repertoire. It's the perfect home cooked dinner to enjoy often. I make it at least once a month.

Perfect Roast Chicken
1 whole chicken, about 4 lbs.
1 lemon, pierced all over with a knife
A bunch of fresh herbs, your choice ( parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) 
2 T soft butter
salt/seasoned salt and pepper


Rinse the chicken and remove the bag of giblets, dry the skin well
Stuff the cavity with the lemon and herbs
Tuck the wings under and truss (tie together) the legs (sometimes I don't truss)
Rub the skin all over with buter
Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. I often use seasoned salt.


Preheat oven to 425. Put the chicken on a rack in a small roasting pan. I use my favorite cast iron roaster. Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and roast for 15 minutes per pound. A 4 lb chicken would cook an additional hour. Remove from oven. Press down on the lemon with a spoon to release the juices. Let rest 10 minutes while you make gravy, or just serve with the pan juices. Carve and serve.

Gravy For Your Mashed Potatoes
Add 2 T flour to the drippings in the pan. Stir to cook and let brown about 2 minutes. Add 2 C water and 1-2 crushed chicken bouillon cube. Whisk constantly until thicken. Taste and add more S&P if needed.

                                                        

                           

Also Good With:
Baked sweet potatoes- put potatoes in the oven for the last 45-60 minutes, Cut open and top with  butter and brown sugar 
Fresh green vegetable
           or
Mashed potatoes
Glazed carrots
          or
Stuffing- omit herbs and lemon and stuff with 2C saved stuffing. Recipe HERE. I make a big batch of homemade stuffing, and freeze the rest in 2C amounts in freezer bags. Flatten the bags, and stack in the freezer.


Chicken Soup For Two
Save all the bones and the carcass and put into a medium stock pot. Add enough water to cover, about 4-6C. Add a little salt, 1/2 onion, the top part of celery with leaves and bring to a simmer for at least an hour. Remove all the bones and add a chopped celery stalk, carrot, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and cook until vegetables are tender. Add about 1C noodles and cook an additional 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.

If there are just the two of you for dinner, you'll have lots of leftover chicken for sandwiches the next day. Or you can make Poppy Seed Chicken Salad, or chicken enchiladas, or chicken tetrazzini, all in previous post.

Enjoy!

Links: Facebook, 
 Between Naps On The Porch,
Dwellings, Coastal Charm, 
A Stroll Through Life,

Lemon-Herb Stuffing

Lemon herb stuffing with

with mushrooms, celery, onions, 

and lots of chopped fresh parsley.

 I usually double this recipe so that I have lots 

for Thanksgiving dinner and can put several 

bags in the freezer for roast chicken dinners

 later in the year.

I use the herbed cubed stuffing in a bag.

Chop all the vegetables and begin adding them to

the pan with hot butter starting with the 

onions and celery then adding

 the sliced mushrooms. Saute for about 5 minutes.

 Stir in the seasonings.

Add the stuffing and chicken broth.

 Toss well and add a good squeeze of lemon juice.

 Lots of chopped fresh parsley is a must.

 Toss well and you're ready to stuff your bird

 or refrigerate until needed.

I love having a few of these bags of stuffing in

the freezer. They turn a roast chicken 

into the perfect Sunday dinner. 

Lemon~Herb Stuffing

Ingredients

• 1 12 oz bag Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Cubes
• 1 C chopped onion, about 1 medium
• 1 C chopped celery, about 2 stalks celery,
• 1 C sliced fresh mushrooms, about 4 -oz
• 1/2 C chopped fresh parsley
• 2 t thyme
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 C Chicken broth (or hot water with 2t chicken bouillon or cubes)
• Juice of 1/2 large lemon about, 2 T lemon juice

Directions

Heat the butter in a large skillet until bubbly. Add vegetables and saute until tender. Add seasonings. Remove from heat. Add to the stuffing in a large bowl. Add the broth and lemon juice, add the fresh parsley tossing well. Stuff turkey cavity and nech cavity. Freeze extra stuffing in quart-size freezer bags flattened to use for your next roast chicken dinner. Find my recipe for perfect roast chicken HERE.

Enjoy!

passed down from Grandma Daisy

Links: No Minimalist Here,
Savvy Southern Style,
Between Naps On The Porch
Coastal Charm,
Confessions Of A Plate Addict