Jun. 7th, 2009

Done?

Jun. 7th, 2009 02:27 pm
hrj: (Default)
Except for one minor detail, the painting is done. And, sure enough, having bought the third gallon of paint just in case, I never needed to open it. I even probably have enough left in the second can for that one minor detail. The detail? I have this sinking suspicion that I'll need to strip and sand the door and doorframe and start from scratch on it. Every time I so much as look at the paint crosseyed, it scratches or peels. I'm going to give it a couple of days for the current coat to dry and then try a few fingernail tests, but I'm tired of deciding "it'll do" and then dealing with the results for the lifetime of the paint job (which is what I did for the bathroom many years ago). The window sill trim isn't having the same problem, but then, there's the residue of the contact paper stick-um for the paint to adhere to. :-)
hrj: (Default)
If I hadn't already had the chicken marinating, I would have skipped cooking dinner entirely from exhaustion, but it was worth the effort. Here's the experiment:

Gather several lemons from the lemon tree. Select those with the skin in best condition and zest them, and juice all. Mix a good handful of the zest with enough of the juice to become gloopy. Add about 2 Tbsp of softened butter and about 2 Tbsp of fresh oregano, chopped finely.

Work this between the skin and flesh of a chicken all over the breast and around the legs. (Don't entirely loosen the skin from the flesh -- just push it into several pockets, working from both the vent and neck areas.) Contain it in a plastic bag and refrigerate for a couple of days.

For a baste, take more of the lemon juice, about a quarter cup, mix with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, ditto of dark brown sugar, and an assortment of herbs (I used a commerical "Italian herbs" mix) and also let sit in the fridge.

Truss the chicken onto your spit, tying the wings and legs firmly to the body. Rotate over a hot flame, but with the lid of the grill open, for about an hour and a half or until a meat thermometer stuck in the thigh and/or breast registers poultry-doneness. During this process, baste every 15 minutes or so.

Evaluation: Totally delicious. My previous rotisserie chicken experiment ended up being a bit too toasted outside (although nicely done inside) and I think the trick is to leave the lid open to give the surface more of a chance to cool as it turns. (It would be even better if the rotisserie allowed for indirect heat, but it doesn't.) It's less efficient fuel-wise, but then, grill-work isn't really about efficiency.

I roasted some bell pepper and asparagus on the side. Also good, although the peppers were still a little crispy in parts. As an appetizer, I had yesterday's accidental cheese on some rice-crackers. Hmm, I'd only mentioned the accidental cheese on facebook, not here. (I can tell I'm going to lose track of what gets mentioned where.) So the milk that seemed perfectly fine when I poured it into the frothing pitcher turned into curds when I ran the steam through it. I drained them and mixed them with a little truffle salt. Not much taste to the curds themselves, but they made a nice carrier for the truffle salt.

Profile

hrj: (Default)
hrj

February 2026

S M T W T F S
12 3 4567
8 91011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Feb. 12th, 2026 05:05 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios