Chubby Bunny

Thanksgiving

This year, I wrestled with ingredients in the kitchen for about 3.5 hours to make 4 dishes. Fortunately, my brother is home now, so he helped out a lot by caramelizing onions and stirring things on the stove top.

Anyway. I started by cleaning the chicken, which was really no challenge, except yanking off the fat as much as possible was a little tricky. There wasn’t a little packet of giblets in the chicken. So sad.

The Chicken who Wants to be a Turkey

• 2 large carrots, julienned
• 3 celery stalks, julienned
• 1/2 onion, cut in wedges
• 1 lemon
• garlic, olive oil, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, sage

Clean the chicken and use your hands to separate the skin from the muscles. Check for deep tissue deposits of fat and remove the fat. Rinse and pat dry. Squeeze one-half of the lemon and combine olive oil and seasonings together and rub into the chicken (inside cavity, between skin and meat, on top of the skin.) Slide in minced garlic and chopped lemon pieces into the chicken. Pre-heat oven at 450°F. Julienne veggies while the oven heats. Put the chicken in when it’s hot enough and let it cook by itself for ~15-20 minutes. Add the julienned veggies into the pan and lower heat to ~375°F. Cook for about 60-120 minutes, depending on size of confused poultry.

Ratatouille

• 1-4oz can of tomato sauce, unseasoned
• 1 large zucchini
• 2 yellow squash
• 1 medium eggplant
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/3 c chopped carrots
• 1 bay leaf
• Thyme, pepper, salt

Think about Pixar and Remi. Heat cast-iron skillet on stove top. When the pan is ready, add oil, garlic and onions. Cook until soft, then add the can of tomato sauce. Cook and season with thyme, salt and pepper; add bay leaf. Turn off heat and add carrots. Slice the squash, and zucchini evenly. Depending on the size and shape of the eggplant, slice and quarter the slices so that they’re almost the same size as the squash. Arrange eggplants on top of the sauce; arrange the sliced squash and zucchini on top of the sauce. Add minced garlic, more salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil on top. Bake at ~375°F, loosely covered in foil. Remove foil ~30 minutes into baking and continue baking until cooked.

Curried Vegetable Soup

Chop vegetables leftover from ratatouille recipe. Cook in a pot with oil and garlic; add curry powder, some apple cider vinegar and taste. Add some chicken bullion or other seasoning as needed. Puree with hand blender and add water as needed.

Whole Wheat Onion Focaccia

• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 packet dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water (110°F)
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 cup WW four
• Extra water as needed
• Caramelized onions (~1 whole onion sliced)

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Let the little critters burp for about 10 minutes. Mix both flours in a bowl and combine well. Add the proofed yeast and mix well; add water as needed until dough forms. Knead a until a ball forms; oil bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit for ~30 minutes, double in size. Punch down and flatten out on an oiled pan. Top with caramelized onion and drizzle olive oil. Bake in ~375°F oven for 20-3o minutes.