Roast Chicken - simple

Roasted chicken resting after coming out of the oven.  I have roasted chicken with various seasonings and rubs, and always end up doing the simplest and easiest, usually because of time constraints - but always delicious and moist.

I rub the chicken with this seasoning before it goes into the oven.  I poured some in the palm of one hand and just rubbed down each chicken. 
I lined a jelly-roll pan (cookie sheet with edges for those of you who have never heard of a jelly roll pan) with parchment paper, my sheet liner of choice, but you could use aluminum foil as well.  I place the chickens onto a cake cooling rack and onto the lined pan.

The oven was at 400, and this time I used convection roast, I had the chicken in the oven for 1 hour 10 minutes.  The picture shows me basting the chicken with the juices from the bottom of the pan after about 50 minutes.  I basted the chicken every 15 minutes to get a nice crispy browned skin.  I didn't add anymore seasoning except what was on the bottom of the pan.

I check the internal temperature to make sure it is over 175 when I take it out of the oven.  The internal temp. will continue to rise a few degrees while it rests.  Do not cut into the chicken until it has rested for at least 10 minutes, otherwise all the juices will come out of the chicken and your chicken will be dry.

I know this is hard to see, but the chicken breast is very moist as I cut it into pieces. 

I didn't cut up the whole chicken, but left one whole chicken breast to be used for sandwich meat.  The rest of the meat will be removed and used for chicken pot pie or soup.  I will put all the bones and juices into a pot, add a carrot/celery/onion and some salt. Cover with water and simmer until the meat comes easily off the bones. I discard the bones and veggies and keep the stock for soup or gravy for another meal.  It can be frozen in ice-cube trays too.

This chicken was eaten with fried rice, broccoli and caramalized yams, no go and ENJOY!

Fried Rice - Basic

Here is a simple way to make fried rice.   I didn't add any extra stuff, that will be posted at a later date (or when I make it again).

I use leftover rice (I do not use converted rice, but you can use whatever rice you want - brown rice works well too) and heat it in the microwave abit so it is easier to handle in the pan. I used a non-stick pan.  You can add butter at the start, this time I did not.

I put some sesame oil over the rice and mixed it all together.  Again, in many of these types of dishes, you will have to judge how much to add. It all depends on how much rice you use, less rice, less oil, more rice more oil...

Pour in some oyster sauce. 

Oyster sauce tends to be fairly thick, so I added some water (beef/chicken stock, or potato water works too) to make it easier to mix with the rice. Stir it all together to coat the rice as evenly as you can.

Push the rice to make a rice free area.  I added 3 eggs, but depends on how much you make whether you use 1 or 2 eggs.

Cook the eggs until they look like wet scrambled eggs, then mix the eggs together with the rice.

Taste your rice, I found that it needed more taste, so I sprinkled soy sauce over the rice and mixed well.

I cut green onions into the fried rice mixture.

mix and eat

Fill your favourite serving bowl with the fried rice, sprinkle on some roasted sesame seeds and ENJOY!

Yummy Yams

Caramalized yams, very delicious! 

 Jan W. thank you for asking about how I make it.

I baked this very large yam in the oven at 350 for 2 hours.  The sugars were just starting to bubble out of the yam when I pulled it out of the oven.  I let it rest for 20 minutes or so.

I removed the peel after the resting period.  It was very easy, because during the resting period, the moisture helped the peel to separate from the yam meat.

I sliced it into large slices.

In a separate bowl I put some brown sugar and maple syrup (regular pancake syrup will work too) and a wee bit of water.

Mix together to make smooth.  Use this to coat the yam slices.

I put a tablespoon of unsalted butter into a warm non-stick fry pan.

I added the yam slices to the pan, and brushed the sugar/syrup/water mixture onto the yam slices. In this picture, the yam has already been flipped once.

Here is the second side, already looking delicious.  I kept the heat at medium, and cooked them slow to help the sugars caramalize without burning.

The yams were served with broccoli, roasted chicken and fried rice.  It is something that you will definitely ENJOY!