Chicken in A Bag and Flu Shots

Yesterday was the flu shot clinic at a local supermarket. So I dragged my husband, kicking, screaming and trying to procrastinate ("Can't we just go next week?") out the door. Sunny when we left here, pouring 3.6 miles and 8 minutes later, of course. We both tend to end up sick for a couple of days after the flu shot, so I planned to roast a chicken - relatively effortless, after all. I found this recipe for Chicken in a Bag in a Craig Claiborne cookbook. It was excellent!

CHICKEN IN A BAG

One Oven Stuffer Roaster
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large paper bag

Stir everything except the chicken and the bag together in a measuring cup and let it sit for at least a half hour. After it has sat, rub the chicken with the olive oil mix, place in a large brown bag, put the bag in a roasting pan and roast at 325 for 2 to 3 hours, depending upon the size of the bird. The bag can be removed for the last half hour of cooking to further brown the chicken.

Marjie's Disclaimers: (1) I didn't use the cumin. I don't know what it is, and have a tendency not to trust spices I don't know. (2) I was out of garlic, so used garlic powder. Worked well. (3) I don't have paper bags in my house, because I have a fear of insect eggs in the glue in the bottoms of the bags. I have a cute little enamel roasting pan (probably 7x10) with a cover, and my chicken fit tightly in there, so I used that. It worked very, very well. Everyone raved about this chicken.

I didn't take a picture of this chicken, but I did take a picture of the Portuguese White Bread I made to go with it. It's a bread machine recipe, but I only use the bread machine as a mixer, then turn the dough into pans for the final rise and baking.

POTRUGUESE WHITE BREAD

1-1/3 cups water
6 tsp. yeast
4 cups flour
4 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

Put in bread machine to mix, or mix with the mixer. Let rise 1/2 hour, punch down, and split into 2 loaf pans. Let rise again until doubled in size, bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Very soft bread; makes great sandwiches, too!