My love of Ina Garten aka The Barefoot Contessa started a couple of summers ago when I was staying at my man friend James' condo for a month while on break from school. I didn't have too much to do and he has a giant big screen so, naturally, I started watching a lot of TV. I immediately got hooked on Food TV's late afternoon/early evening block of programming when they'd play Everyday Italian, The Barefoot Contessa, and Paula Deen's Home Cooking. Though I enjoy watching Paula and Giada I tried making Ina's recipes the most. There's a sense of simple elegance about them that made them seem accessible. Plus, Paula puts a stick or two of butter in everything.
Additionally, Ina's life seems awesome, but she doesn't rub it in or have a false sense of superiority about it, like Martha. Beyond that, her and her husband Jeffery are just so darn cute! They've been married for 40 years and still seem to like each other! This may also be due to the fact that Jeffery lives in New Haven during the week (where he teaches at Yale) and comes home to The Hamptons on the weekends. Talk about a marriage made in heaven.
Anyways, back to the food. Since I've found myself unemployed and staying at my man friend's condo yet again, I've decided to try making some basics a la Ina's Back To Basics season of The Barefoot Contessa. I watched her make a delicious roast chicken last week and realized that I have never made a roast chicken. This must be remedied! After searching through Ina's online recipe catologue I found this one, Engagement Chicken, that sounded delicious and required ingredients that I mostly already had. Also, I don't know what the deal is with the name but don't get any crazy ideas. I am not planning on becoming Mrs. Man Friend just yet.
Before...For the chicken, I purchased a nearly four pound 'Naked' one (no antibiotics, etc) from Stew Leonard's that was quite good. I followed the recipe to a T but would use just one large spanish onion next time, since the ratio of sauce to onion was a little unbalanced. Also, be sure to move the onions around once in a while during the roasting process so they don't burn. Like many of the comments on this recipe, you HAVE to make the sauce with this. It is soooo good. Even James, who isn't a big eater, agreed.
After!
2 comments:
'Engagement Chicken' is some kind of stupid big deal... it's said that if you make this recipe, whatever guy you're dating will propose to you because it proves you're capable of wifely-type things (I almost threw up typing that). Meanwhile, I can barely boil water and someone thought it was a good idea to marry me.
Anyway, this girl I know made this recipe after seeing it in Glamour and was proposed to... she then wrote to them telling them it worked and they featured her in a bridal photo shoot.
ahhh I see. Man, that didn't work at all for me. Maybe Bitch mag can do a photo shoot on me now. "I made this chicken for ME"
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