Martha's Chicken.

I have a friend, T, that I used to teach with (in the dark ages, it seems!). She is an artist and a very talented gal. She also had a thing (maybe a girl-crush?) for Martha Stewart. I remember one day we were sitting in our "kingdom" at the back of my classroom (working, of course) and she made an off-hand comment something like this:

Everyone should aspire to be a little more like Martha.

Whoa. Really? I remember calling her nuts, snorting, mocking her or politely dismissing her . Aw, heck, I have no idea what I said. But what she said has stuck with me.

Now Martha Stewart isn't really just a person. She's a TEAM of PEOPLE. Which is why I think that to "aspire to be a little" like her is a good thing. (get it? "good thing?!") I'm an average person with little to no creative talent and my ability to organize has been slowly sucked out of my by the boys I live with. So I aspire to be a better cook, a better gardener, a better domestic goddess, etc.

But I can follow a recipe---AND---change it to make it Bryce-safe. So here it is, folks, my "little bit of Martha" done Dort's way. My changes are noted after the recipe.

From the January 2011 issue of Living

Crisp-Skin Roasted Chicken
Serves 4 to 6

6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut crosswise, 3/4 inch thick
Coarse salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 whole chicken (about 4 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 small bunch fresh rosemary

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook potatoes in salted boiling water until tender, 11 to 13 minutes. Drain. Return potatoes to pot, and shake over low heat to dry and fluff. Coat with oil, and season with salt.

2.Mix together 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and the cornstarch. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Rub skin with butter, and season with salt mixture. Stuff some rosemary into cavity. Pile remaining rosemary on a rimmed baking sheet.

3.Place chicken, breast side up, on rosemary, and tuck wings under. Tie legs together with kitchen twine. Scatter potatoes around chicken. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and flip potatoes. Return to oven, rotating sheet. Roast until chicken juices run clear and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh reaches 165 degrees, about 30 minutes more. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes before serving. If potatoes aren't golden, toss with rosemary, and return to oven.

MY CHANGES:
I used dill instead of rosemary. Now Martha would have rosemary growing on her windowsill and she would cut it fresh and it would be wonderful. I have nothing growing on my windowsill because, well, you've read my blog entries about Bryce, right? I also don't really care for rosemary. Dill it is.

I used Bryce-safe margerine in lieu of the butter. It needs to be melted and drizzled on as it doesn't really soften sitting at room temperature.

You can easily increase the potatoes. They come out with a nice looking crust--so crusty looking, in fact, that Brett thought they were these awesome Parmesan potato wedges I made this summer. I might add nutrional yeast to these next time.

I didn't tie my bird. I don't have "kitchen twine". I don't have "kitchen string" or even "kitchen floss" if there is such a thing.

Oh, and leftovers? Yeah, there were none. This bird was that good.

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