Truffle Potato Nuggets

To accompany the last post of perfect roasted chicken, I almost always make these truffle roasted potatoes. While I LOVE mashed potatoes (we’re not talking Hungry Jack style here people, real mashed potatoes made with perfectly buttery boiled potatoes + butter + whole milk), my waistline doesn’t always. Solution? Tenderly boiled baby potatoes tossed gently with truffle salt and truffle oil.

The beauty of using something with as much flavor as truffle is that you don’t need to you as much, hence your waistline saver! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do, we end up making these on an almost weekly basis in our household and I hope it becomes a staple in yours as well!

Truffled Potatoes

gluten free

Serves 3-4

• 1 ½ pounds baby yellow or red skinned potatoes
• 2 T. unsalted butter
• 1 T. truffle oil*
• truffle salt to taste*

*if you have the option b/w white and black truffle oil, opt for the superior white.

DIRECTIONS

Fill a 3-4 qt. saucepan with water and add scrubbed potatoes (yes-start the potatoes in COLD water!). Bring water up to a boil, turn down to a simmer and place the lid on top. Cook until a knife slips through a potato like a hot knife through butter. Pour into colander and then put potatoes back in pan.

Add the butter and truffle oil, place the lid back on the pan and-using a towel to save your fingers-shake the potatoes against the pan to gently get them coated with the butter-truffle mixture and soften the outside slightly. Add the truffle salt to taste and try not to eat them all before you serve your guests!!

Perfect Roasted Chicken

As promised yesterday on Facebook, I am writing a post about my chilly springtime dinner I prepared last night. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. Plenty of noises like such- “mmmmmm” and “oh, yeah” came about. Comfort food for me is not macaroni and cheese or lasagne or French toast, etc. Comfort food for me is the following: perfectly roasted chicken with steamed carrots and truffle crusted potatoes. Oh, yeah.

And the thing about this post that I would love you to take the most with you is how to make a perfect roasted chicken. It is a quintessential thing that everyone should have in their repertoire, and not to mention once you’ve done it a few times you will be a pro!

So go buy yourself a little chicken (a roaster or a fryer, either one will be fine), it will be most likely about 4-5 pounds. Set aside a few hours for your first night of roasting the bird and you will be so surprised at how easy and deeeeeelicious it turns out!

**Look out for another post later this week on the truffle potatoes!!

Perfect Roasted Chicken
gluten free, egg free, nut free

Serves 4-5

• 1 4-5 pound roasting chicken (may be labeled “roaster” or “fryer”)
• 10 carrots, peeled and cut in half
• 1 lemon, zested and cut into quarters
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 sprigs rosemary, stripped and leaves minced
• 2-3 T. olive oil or softened butter
• 1 small onion, peeled and quartered
• salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425. Rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Place on roasting rack set inside roasting pan (** OR an all metal cooling rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet). Place the carrots underneath the roasting rack, or surrounding the rack.

In a small bowl, mix together the lemon zest, 3 cloves minced garlic, minced rosemary and the 2-3 T. olive oil or softened butter. Add a big pinch of salt and some cracks of pepper.

Next, using your finger, make a little pocket between the skin and the meat of the breast. Make sure you leave the skin attached at the breast bone. So, at the end you will have 2 pockets, one over each individual breast. Using a spoon, scoop up some of the lemon-garlic-rosemary mixture and shimmy into the pockets, placing equal amounts on both sides. Now massage the skin to move this mixture as far back as possible. 

Stuff the cavity with the quartered lemon and the quartered onion and drizzle the top of the chicken with another 1-2 T. of olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and pop in the preheated 425 oven.

Roast at this temperature 15 minutes then turn the pan around (for even browning). Roast another 15 minutes at 425 then turn the oven down to 350 and roast another 45 minutes or so until a thermometer inserted into the thigh (but NOT touching bone!) reads 165-170.

Remove the chicken from the oven and lightly tent with foil. Allow it to sit at least 15 minutes and even up to 30 (it’s true! Trust me, it will stay hot and this extra time allows you to finish up the rest of dinner).

Lastly, slice the chicken (wings first, then drumstick/thigh, lastly breast. But save the body for chicken broth or soup! Wrap it well and throw it in the freezer to use later).