Yo, y’all and apologies to me veggie friends, but here is a great baked chicken recipe that I’ve used for years. Usually I cook it in the Fall but it’s great year-round. It’s one of those recipes that is truly beautiful in its simplicity. So simple, that I can multitask while it’s in the oven. I often cook while reading grad school assignments and it’s so good, it’s got my kitchen-savvy sister’s seal of approval.
1 Whole Chicken
Paprika (preferably Hungarian)
baking pan
tablespoon for basting, small dish to hold the spoon
Set the oven to 350 F. I use an old one where the actual temps are suspect but works just fine. Wash the chicken well in cool water, removing the gizzard and other ‘parts’ you might find stuffed in it. Set the chicken in the baking pan and rub in lots of paprika covering the entire chicken in a couple of coats of that wonderful paprika red. I always pretend I’m giving deep massage to the chicken, thanking it for its sacrifice.
After the rubdown, I wash my red hands and place the chicken in the oven. After 30 minutes, I check it. By now the skin is taut and browning, and just a bit of juice drippings are there for basting. I tilt up the pan letting the juices flow from the open end of the chicken. Initially, I might get a couple of spoonfuls of drippings to baste with. After another 15 minutes, I do the basting again and now have enough juice to cover the entire chicken and all its crevasses. That’s all that’s to this recipe. Just keep basting every 15 minutes after the initial basting, until the chicken is done. For my ancient oven, that’s usually 2 hours. And that’s all it takes! Because of my schedule, I serve it spartan-style with a couple of slices of breast meat next to a full plate of salad. It’s also great with steamed or sauteed broccoli and a sweet potato.
The symbiosis between the chicken juice and paprika gives it incredible flavor and is great for those on salt-restricted diets (or should be). In fact, it must be good because on the nights that I cook before heading off to 3rd shift at UPS, I leave the chicken covered to cool. When I do that there always a leg missing and bleached-white and gnawed bones in the garbage on my return. Apparently my sister can’t resist.
Now I have one more reason to get that digital camera. Y’all must see the finished product!
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