It's Complicated....

Apparently it's complicated to go see "It's Complicated". Paul (the Aussie/Italian) and I decided to pack up wine, dinner and dessert and head to the moonlight cinema in Centennial Park. For those who don't know what the moonlight cinema is; in Sydney and Melbourne some wonderful people decided to take advantage of the beautiful summer nights and have outdoor movie screenings in some of the botanical gardens of the city. It was a beautiful night and Paul cooked up his tasty delicious roast chicken with rice and raisins (did I mention the man can cook and make his own pasta!) And I added in a fig and pistachio arugla salad. We got to the park and started off by having a glass of red vino while waiting in line to head into the viewing area. However, the generator broke and there was no power so our wonderful moonlight cinema picnic was short lived. But we made the most of the situation and headed back home and had our own moonlight picnic in the back yard with candles and our trusty Mac computer showing the movie 'Dan in Real Life'

Roast Chicken with Wild Rice and Raisins
(Paul doesn't use recipes so bear with me for the measurements)

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
3 cups of chicken stock
2 lemons (zest from lemons as well)
1 cup of wild rice/brown rice/or cous cous
1 brown onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic (diced or pressed)
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of paprika
a hearty shake of cayenne pepper
Salt + Pepper
Lots of golden raisins (anywhere from half a cup to a whole cup)
1/3 of a cup of extra virgin olive oil plus more for browning the onion
1/3 cup of Port Wine

Mix together in a bowl the rice and half a tablespoon of the cumin, paprika, a shake of cayenne pepper, a chunky pinch of salt & pepper and 3/4 of the lemon zest from the two lemons. Also add into the bowl the raisins.

Pre-Heat Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit or 180 Degrees Celsius

Mix together half a tablespoon of the cumin & the paprika. Rub this onto the chicken. Rub a hearty shake of the cayenne pepper onto the chicken. Then rub onto the chicken the rest of the zest from two lemons and make sure to sprinkle salt and pepper onto the chicken. Drizzle some of the extra virgin olive oil onto the whole chicken.

Drizzle some of the EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) into a large crock pot or le creuset pot (anything that is oven proof and has a lid). Brown the chicken in the pot for 5 mins on each side and then remove from the pot and set aside. Then add into the pot the chopped onion and brown for approximately 5 mins. or until the onion is a little brown. Add in the garlic and sautee for a couple of seconds and then add in the port wine (or white wine). Scrape bottom of pot with a wooden spoon to free up all of the good tasty crusty bits. Then pour in chicken stock and bring to boil. Add rice mixture and squeeze in juice from two lemons, stir briefly. Take two lemon halves and shove them inside the chicken before adding in whole chicken into the pot breast side up. Cover the pot with the lid and turn off stove top. Place pot into pre-heated oven for one and a half hours or until chicken is done (use meat thermometer in breast to check).

Chef's Tips:
1) Don't leave out the raisins from the recipe as they puff up and fill with lemony flavor and they are delicious.
2) If you choose to use cous cous with this then don't add the cous cous when it says to add rice. Instead dice other vegetables like carrot and mushroom and bake the chicken on those for an hour before adding stock. When the chicken is done remove and cover with foil, then add a cup and a half of cous cous to the stock and vegetables and cover for 10 mins to allow the cous cous
to absorb the liquid.

Arugula Salad w/ Fig and Pistachio:

Ingredients:
Arugula Salad (or if you are using Recipe in Australia then Rocket)
3 Figs (sliced)
1 cup of Pistachios
Sprinkle of Blue Cheese Crumbles

Mix ingredients into serving bowl and drizzle with dressing when ready to serve.

Salad Dressing:
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of raspberry jam
1 tablespoon of seeded mustard or dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of EVOO
Salt & Pepper
Dash of dried rosemary

Put all ingredients into seal-able container and shake until smooth or put into bowl and whisk ingredients together until smooth.

For Dessert use Peanut's Strawberry Scones (see recipe of her previous post)