This post isn't about Death Valley. Rather, it's about a wonderful thing to do with citrus if you have it: Citrus-Marinated Roasted Chicken is one of my favorite ways to roast chicken, when I have the oranges and lemons. Right now I have plenty. This recipe comes from Fine Cooking, Issue 115, and it's been a family favorite since I first tried it.
The marinade consists of orange and lemon juice and zest; garlic; oregano; honey and soy sauce. Tuck the chicken in with slices of lemon and orange. Let them all get cozy for 6 - 12 hours (in truth, I did about 3). Roast: first at high heat, to brown the skin, then at low heat to finish the chicken. The bottom half of this photo shows the beautifully bronzed result.
Strain the sauce, defat it, boil it down and serve. If you have two whole chickens and a big enough pan, cut them up and roast them both to ensure plenty of leftovers. I only had chicken thighs, and wish I'd fit more into the pan. My darling liked the sauce not only on the chicken and rice, but also on his salad!
The pictures above don't convey the extent of the dinner. Between the sauce in the pot, the chicken, and the salad, there wasn't much room left on the table. The rice cooker is in the other room. Here's the whole spread. The perspective is skewed because of where I had to stand; the sauce pan is NOT bigger than the dinner plates!
And now for a change of pace: I know a lot of the country is under storm watch of one sort or another. @Shelby is hoping for snow; @rotuts is hoping that Shelby will come out and shovel his snow; folks in the L.A. Basin are celebrating the rain storms but, in some cases, dodging mudslides or working to avoid traffic accidents. The rain that's been pounding the West Coast has even made it to the interior deserts, and the wildflowers are making the most of it. Here's a bit of color for you.
The sky has been pretty, too. This was yesterday's sunset and moonrise:
