Welcome to the first Fresh Picks Newsletter and to the start of the 2006 growing season! We are launching Irv & Shelly’s Fresh Picks^SM and this newsletter to connect Chicago to our local farmers and build a healthy way to bring fresh local food to our tables. The farmers we have met with and whose amazing food we have tasted are excited to turn more acres to organic practices knowing we will help them get their ripe flavorful harvest to your door within hours of leaving the farm.

     Happy Spring!

     Irv & Shelly

Savory Chicken

Cooking Time: 75 minutes

Ingredients:

- 1 whole chicken, 3-5 lbs
- 1 tsp each: thyme, sage, lemon peel, tarragon
- Pinch or 2 of salt and pepper
- ¼ cup butter
- Optional: traditional bread stuffing or cut vegetables stuffing (carrot, onion, celery with leaves, garlic bulb)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place thawed chicken on roasting rack in roasting pan breast side up. Don’t use a pan with too much extra room because the juices will dry out. If you don’t have a rack that fits the size pan you are using, place the chicken on some cut up potatoes, onions or squash.

Melt the butter and mix in the spices. Place some in the cavity of the chicken and glaze the outside. Add any stuffing and close the cavity with small skewers.

Cook in the oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees and then lower to 350 degrees for approximately 1 more hour. The cooking will be longer with stuffing. Baste the chicken with the butter and spices about every 20 minutes. Chicken is done when cutting a slit between the leg and the body yields clear juices. You can also use a thermometer to test for a breast meat temperature of 170 degrees Fahrenheit.

To serve, cut the legs and wings off the chicken first, then slice the breast meat. Pour juices from the pan over the chicken and any stuffing you may have used.

Savory chicken tastes great with roasted vegetables. Once the chicken is in the oven you can cut up potatoes, parsnips, carrots and/or winter squash, coat with olive oil, some salt and pepper and roast in a separate pan. Enjoy!