Whole Foods Chicken

OK,  yes, I can cook a really good roast chicken. With the right stove, I am a champion chicken roaster.   However, in the kitchen I currently have it is a crap shoot.  The oven is so small that the chicken needs to be on the top rack which means I can't actually roast a whole chicken because a whole chicken hits the top of the oven.  That is not good.  I can split the bird in half and cook it but it ain't the same.  It simply doesn't get that dark golden brown skin and it doesn't get crispy.  So, sadly, the really good roast chickens of my past are currently not in my future.

However, as most of you already know, Whole Foods Markets make really, really good roast chickens. (And yes, I know Costco does chickens for less money but I don't belong and don't try to tell me they don't use the pull-by chickens in their ovens.  You know they do.)  Whole Foods do them on the rotisserie and there is nothing bad to say about these birds.  I started thinking about this chicken early today.  I wanted roasted chicken. I didn't want to do the work.  And for those of you who have seen where I live, you know I am not kidding when I say there is one 18 inch space that encompasses the entire counter space of this kitchen.  To come home from work at 6:30 and try to do prep, cut, slice, all of it in this tiny space is quite frustrating.  I swear a lot.  And that is the same space that must be empty in order for me to do the clean-up, to do the dishes, everything.

Needless to say, the lure of the already roasted chicken is huge.  I was at Whole Foods at 6:45, and the chickens were still on the spit.  Still spinning. Still dripping their lovely grease on the chickens below.  In less than 10 minutes I had my chicken in a plastic heat-proof carrier, good to go.  I came home, wrapped it in a kitchen towel to keep warm, made myself a mint-julep-whiskey-sour cocktail, basked in the knowledge that a juicy chicken was waiting for me and at the appropriate moment I cut into that baby and it was as yummy as any chicken on a Saturday night should be. 

Yes, it's true I don't date, but don't tell me my Saturday nights aren't hot.  Anticipating that moist (!) and succulent chicken was worth the wait.  It was a great dinner, tons left for days to come and I totally will respect myself in the morning.  Hell, my kitchen is already cleaned up for the night and no need to think about morning respect!  Time for another glass of wine! 

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