We spent the whole day at the park...
in the morning hubbie took the two youngest down early while he played tennis. I had coffee quietly, ate rye toast with pear jam without anyone stealing bites. Put out some wash to dry on the deck and then jogged/walked down with Rufus to meet them. We played then went home for a short while...put on our swimsuits rounded up our sleepy head tween and his sleepover buddy and headed back.
Then we sat under the huge willow and the boys ran with their remote control planes and frisbees and climed trees and I used the dropped willow branches to start making a little bird cage project I promised Ry for his room. Everyone was still having the best time so I zipped hubby home to sleep for his shift and whipped up a quick picnic and grabbed some twine for my willow craft...that's the beauty of having a babysitting age kiddo around, Noah is normally happy to help with Ryan when it means yummy food or other treats.
By the time I returned they were all in the pool playing with Ryan, ready for another round of sunscreen and starving for lunch. We ate then swam and then I finished the quirky bird cage while we dried in the sun. Suddenly I realized the time...well after 4 and when we were suppossed to wake hubbie for work! We packed up quickly and luckily we live very close by. Our park day that started before 8 a.m. had lasted until the late afternoon!
We zipped home once again and I quickly packed a dinner for hubbie and thought maybe I should reconsider trying the recipe I planned for tonight as I thought it would take way too long or be complicated. I am SO glad I didn't change plans as it was easy and even with having to make two little extra trips to pick up Noah then leave again (after serving him a big chunk of chicken to try as he was salivating over it ) to drop him at a another sleepover, dinner was ready on the table by six.
The recipe is called Beer Can Roasted Chicken. I have had several friends tell me about doing it on the BBQ or how delish it was but I was hesitant to try without a recipe as it's a bit unusual.
My hubbie is a Stout lover and we always have some Guinness around as well as the batch of homebrew we made him. Basically you wash the chicken, rub it down with butter and seasonings and then stick a can of beer up it's bum and roast it!
The beer makes the meat moist and full of flavor and it also makes a nice rich gravy at the end to serve with the chicken. We ate it with baked beans but I regretted not making some mashed potatoes to drizzle gravy on. Corn on the cob or a green salad and you have an easy, fast meal.
So here it is, the version I used from Martha Stewart (of course! lol)...
Beer- Can Roasted Chicken with Fig-Jam Pan Sauce
My tips & takes on the recipe in random order...
You can turn a used bread bag inside out and use it to give your bird a butter massage without getting super slimy hands.
I didn't have fig jam in the house so I added a dash of balsamic reduction for the sweet tartness.
If you have silicone oven mitts they work well to deal with your chicken...especially when it comes time to pull the beer out of it's rear end! Everything is hot and slippery so take care, there will be boiling beer still in the can as well that can be poured into the tray for the gravy.
Another note is after the first twenty minutes when I basted I had to add some water to the pan...make sure you always have liquid in it as it bastes.
I also opened up the top of the Guiness can completely with the can opener to remove that little ball that's in there to help with the foam when you pour. It's plastic and I was a bit iffy about leaving it in...maybe they don't have those in the USA as Martha didn't mention it at all. The cats loved playing with it.
After we ate the chicken I made a stock with the leftovers to tuck in the freezer, it will be great for an Irish fall stew. This recipe was a hit, next time I'll do three at once so we have leftovers and can later make a big pot of stock.
oxo
Learn some of the recipes, we can make our food more delicious.
Posted by: Danaioq | August 14, 2011 at 11:06 PM