Today’s headline brought to you by the letter Q.

It is the first day of autumn today, and I’m ready for it. After driving back from Mum’s in the Finger Lakes, I went straight to my dearest Fairway for provisions to make a roast chicken with carrots, red and white baby potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Fairway didn’t have any baby blue potatoes, and I used shallot instead of whole cloves of garlic, so, this dish is a variation on my usual roast poullet. Also, since I typically buy the whole, roasted Latin-style organic chicken at Fairway, I decided to add some extra seasonings. I peeped (achem) the ingredients listed on theirs and loosely followed it. This is not an official recipe. At some time in the past, I also followed some Martha Stewart roast chicken recipes as well as Epicurious’, so those somehow inform what I did or did not do with this bird.

Roast chicken a la girl from Upstate

1 whole organic chicken, washed if you’re worried about MOs and trussed if you’re fussy
3 good size carrots, scrubbed and cut into about one inch pieces
20 small red and white baby potatoes, washed and de-eyed
15-20 small Brussels sprouts, washed and butts cut off
5 whole shallots, ends cut off and skins removed
1 whole lemon, skin scrubbed then use a fork to poke holes in it
Olio
4-5 pats of good butter
Sel
Fresh cracked piper
Crushed red pepper (crp)
Oregano
Garlic powder
Cayenne pepper
Celery salt

While the oven preheats to 450°, toss washed and prepared vegetables into a large bowl. Pour quite a bit of olio over top and season with sel, piper and crp. Use a large spoon to mix all of the ingredients. Place raw chicken in a roasting pan, loosen the skin from the breasts and place pats of good butter between the skin and breasts. Pour olio over top then season with sel, piper, crp, oregano, garlic powder, cayenne and celery salt. Stick the whole holey lemon inside the body cavity. Then use a large spoon to carefully transfer all of the veggies into the roasting pan; be careful the Brussels sprouts don’t fall out and roll off the counter and onto the floor. Cover the roasting pan and place on a center rack in the oven.

Here are cooking times and temperatures for this roast chicken:

15 minutes at 450°, then remove from oven to baste
40 minutes at 350°, then remove from oven again to baste some more
40 more minutes at 350° and baste yet again
15 minutes at 350° with the cover off to brown the bird, then baste a fourth time
10-15 more minutes with the cover off for more golden-browning goodness, then baste, cover again, turn off the oven, return chicken to the oven and let it sit and think for a while

After shopping, I ate a snack of baguette and Spanish olio, so I’m not hungry at the moment. Since I’ll be up working on class assignments and readings, I’ll have a small meal later tonight.

And because I’m really in the mood for fall and psyched at the prospect, per Farmer’s Almanac that the Northeast is going to see a cold winter with a lot of snowy precipitation (fingers and paws all crossed), I am making a small pot of hot spiced apple cider.

Upsk8 girl’s hot spiced cider

3 cups fresh apple cider from a Gotham Greenmarket
1-2 sticks of cinnamon from a trip to Dominica
Fresh grated nutmeg from the same trip to Dominica

Place cinnamon and grated nutmeg into a small kettle and pour in the fresh apple cider. Cover and place on the stovetop and set the flame to medium-low. Be careful not to let the cider boil over, but let simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Bon appétit..