There's something very much fun about having these little chickies on your plate, plus they are always juicy and delicious. I've gone searching for info on these little guys. It turns out, they are not necessarily hens (they are also males) and they are not really "game" but are really a domesticated chicken. They are, however, chickies. They are fast growing chickens that reach about 2.5lbs by the time they are 5 weeks old. Back in the day of a more militant me, I would have had a tortured soul over the fact that people would actually eat baby chickens! (No. I didn't eat eggs at the time either.) And now? BRING IT!
They are mostly white meat, which makes them highly desirable. While most people think it's a chicken dinner for one, it yields about a pound of meat which is more than I would suggest eating in a sitting - although I easily could! Besides, it's so much fun to have your very own little chicken on your plate!
Today, I planned dinner ahead of time. I know. Not my normal MO. Who knows, maybe I'm changing? Actually, it's only because yesterday when I pulled them out of the refrigerator, I found they were still frozen. At that exact moment, the phone rang. It happened to be my dear friend calling to invite us to join her family for dinner last minute. PERFECT! (Whew! That was close, because we're out of bread for pb & j. I think we may be out of the "j" part of that equation as well.)
These are easy little boogers to cook, though they will take a little time, so plan accordingly. They cooked for about 2 hours. I set them up and got them ready for the oven earlier today before I left the house so when I came home, they were ready to go into the oven.
Let's get them ready, shall we? Figure 2 pats of butter per little chickie. put some salt/pepper/garlic powder in a bowl and drop the pats of butter into it. Gently tap it into the mix so that the seasoning sticks to all sides of the butter. (Here's the gross part) With your fingers, seperate the skin from the bird and stuff the pats of butter under it. Put one on each side. Juice a lemon over the top of them & sprinkle some more salt/pepper/garlic over the skins. (You did wash your hands, right?) They're ready to go in the oven. If you're ready, great. If not, put a lid on 'em and stick 'em in the fridge. That's what I did.
I also decided to make a (small) quick pot of pasta sauce to have with them tonight and put it in the slow cooker on "warm" for 8 hours. You ready? Don't go for that jar of sauce! It's really simple, so here we go!
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato paste
tsp each dried basil & thyme
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken broth (Remember you made some? Check your freezer)
crushed red pepper to taste
salt/pepper to taste (What kind? That's right, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper)
Lap around the pan a couple times with olive oil, sprinkle in the herbs, salt/pepper, crushed pepper & bay leaf. Go ahead and plop them garlic cloves in there too. Simmer really low until it smells fabulous. Add your tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth & red wine. Stir it really good and pour it into the slow cooker. Turn the temp on warm and set for 8 hours.
Now. Go have your day. You've got things to get done, work to do. Go do it. Just come back about an hour and a half before you want to eat and stick them babies in the oven.
Oh! You're back! OK. Take the hens out of the fridge and set them atop your stove while you turn your oven on to preheat at a whoppin' 425 degrees. When the oven reaches the correct temp, put the roaster in the oven, uncovered.
Bake them for 30 minutes to get a nice crispy brown to the skin. (Set your timer! I know you have ADD too. You think you've got plenty of time to go do something else since all your work in the kitchen is done for a while.)
When the timer goes off, put a lid on them and turn the temp down to a more reasonable 350. Reset your timer for an hour and a half. Go do something else. Just before they're done, boil some chicken broth & water (that's right) for your pasta. We had rotinis.
When the pasta is done to your liking, you can either spoon the sauce on it or dump it in the pan with the sauce. I went for the "fewer dishes" route and dumped it into the sauce. It looks prettier if you do it separately, but I was in a less work mode and did it the other way.
All done! It looks like you worked really hard, but you didn't. Isn't that awesome?
Enjoy your baby chickens!
Love the ones you feed!!!
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