Monday, October 18, 2010

Chicken in a Bag

While out running an errand, I had to fill my gas guzzler. Since it was raining, I went to one of two full service stations in the area, and, while waiting for the tank to fill, I noticed a new sign on a building across the street: "PASTRIES." Well, who wouldn't want to investigate? If the pastries turned out to be Twinkies and Ring Dings, I could always just buy a diet coke and leave, right?

Well, the pastries were wonderful. I spent the rest of the weekend resisting the ur
ge to go drop another $20 there. My butt is happier because of it.
The pastries came in a plain, uninked paper bag. This led me to the perfect dinner idea:

CHICKEN IN A BAG


1 Oven Stuffer Roaster, 5 to 7 pounds

1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp rosemary
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, quartered
salt

paper bag

In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, paprika, rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Let it stand for about 30 minutes.


Clean out the chicken. Put the onion quarters in the chicken, lay the bag down in your roasting pan, and put the chicken in the bag. Carefully reach in and spread the seasoning mix over the chicken, and close the bag tightly around the chicken. Place in the oven, and roast at 325F for 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours, depending upon the weight of the chicken, until the juices run clean when it's stabbed. If desired, rip the top off the bag during the last half hour of roasting so the bird will brown better.

I didn't get a picture of the chicken when I took it out of the bag, but you can see from the carved mess on my platter just how moist this was. There was barely enough left over for Jeffrey and Ryan to make their lunches for the next day, so it was clearly popular.
And served with sour cream potatoes and veggies, this was a very hearty meal, perfect for a chilly, rainy night!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pastries have no redeeming social value, do they? I haven't eaten one in about two years. I'm going to break that fast today. (My butt will not be happy about it.)

SissySees said...

LOL!!! Poor, unloved pastries...

Someone at the firehouse does chicken in a pouch, but I don't remember much about it.

Jennifer said...

What a wonderful idea, chicken in a bag, less clean up, moist chicken, win win!

Linda said...

I used to do bagged chicken all the time but haven't thought of doing it that way in a long while. Service station fare doesn't usually turn out as well as yours did.....lucky girl;)

Tatersmama said...

You had me at "pastries".
And I stayed there... lol!

The chicken sounds wonderful, but it's not often that I buy a whole chook nowadays. The cost is prohibitive for one thing, so I usually just buy "parts" as needed.
I might check Costco today though, since they're so much cheaper than the grocery stores. Almost $10 for a raw chicken at Safeway is just ridiculous... especially when you can buy one already roasted, for a few dollars less!

Anette said...

Ah the chicken looks so moist and lovely!

gMarie said...

Looked yummy. Can't even remember what I made for dinner last night. g

Pam said...

What a great idea! The chicken does look moist, tender, and delicious. Love the potatoes too.

Velva said...

I drooling over the pastries and the chicken in a bag. Love them both!

Mickle in NZ said...

A "hooray" recipe - delicious, moist roast chicken with no mess in the oven or roasting pan - and the bag is biodegradable too!

Nasa Information said...

Hi am Santo a follower of your blog,
I just dropped in to congratulate you for maintaining such an amazing blog with fresh content by the way even I run a blog called space news .Being a blogger I thought you would be interested to see my blog,

(http://nasa-information.blogspot.com/) nasa-information,

I was very much impressed with your blog and have placed your link on my site. I request you to have a look at my blog and would love to see my blog's link at your amazing blog hoping to hear a positive reply

signing off –
santo

The Blonde Duck said...

I must try this for Ben and my mini Thanksgiving!

Do you seriously want the luby's recipe? I just didn't put it on the site for copyright crap.