Happy New Year!

I have been a huge fan of new years for as long as I can remember. Not the big, drunken debauchery of New Year’s Eve (although I’ve been known to partake), but the fresh start of a new year ahead with all the possibilities and hopes for the future.

In the closing days of each year, I very ceremoniously sit down to reflect on the year gone by and create a list of all the things that I wish to achieve in the coming year. I write it out, discuss my goals with those around me and post it up somewhere visible. Then each January 1st, I wake up with a renewed sense of purpose and motivation to make my life better than it was the year before and I’m off and running. 

That is for a couple weeks or so until my enthusiasm and motivation begin to waver and I gradually slip back into old habits... Sounds familiar?

It could be very easy to join the ranks of skeptics out there who decry: Why make New Year’s resolutions? They don’t work. Nothing ever changes. You’re just setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.

It is true that my goals look pretty much the same from year to year with a few minor changes here and there. Drink less, eat less, move more, drink more water, take time for myself, be happy, etc. They look the same because I very rarely accomplish these goals in a given year. So what is the point? What are they meant to accomplish? 

People make New Year’s resolutions and goals for the future because they want to improve their lives. Essentially they want to be their best selves. Think if everyone was committed to being their best, even if only part of the time! When you are your best self, you are confident and happy! When you are happy, the positivity you exude affects those around you. Imagine a world where everyone is spreading positive energy. What is wrong with aspiring to be a better person and in the process creating a better world?

New Year’s resolutions have gotten a bad rap. I reject the attitude that New Year’s resolutions are pointless. I am an optimist. I believe that life is what you make it. I am also a work in progress. They say that the more often you try at something the more likely you are to succeed. The more I try, the more likely one or two of my resolutions are bound to stick eventually. And in retrospect, I have accomplished a lot in life by setting goals and working towards them. 

I won’t give up on you, New Year’s resolutions, whether the said goal takes one year or a lifetime to achieve. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

So what on earth does any of this have to do with my blog? Well, that was my intro into my New Year’s resolutions. The following are my goals for 2014, meant to reinforce and renew my commitment to an ethical omnivore lifestyle... I know, sometimes it takes me awhile to get to the point. 

Here they are:

1) Do not waste food. Keep an inventory of food I have and plan meals to avoid spoilage.

2) Continue to explore new ingredients, recipes, food preparation & preservation techniques.

3) Don’t give up on my garden. Keep working to improve the soil and actively seek the gardening expertise of others.

4) Learn, learn, learn. Continue to educate myself on our food system. Continue to experiment with and implement creative alternatives.

Happy New Year! May 2014 be your best year yet! 

What are your resolutions?

Hunter-Gatherer: Fall 2013 Recap

Wow! 2013 has zipped right along. Even Christmas is done and gone. My apologies for the extended hiatus. I had considered giving up on the blog altogether. Not because I’ve given up on my ethical eating aspirations, which I haven't, but because I haven’t been able to dedicate the time to blogging about it that I would like. I’m not the type to do things half-assed. After some careful consideration, however, I came to the conclusion that this is my project and I can write as often or as rarely as I like. I don’t need to adhere to somebody else’s idea of how often one should post. After all, I’m doing this for myself and to share with friends and family. I’m not seeking fame or fortune. I shouldn’t fret over it! So, I won’t.

Anyways, here’s a recap of the fall’s food related activities:

Well for starters, I jarred some locally grown tomatoes and so far this winter I haven’t had to buy any from the store, which has been great!

Beautiful local tomatoes: scored & hulled. No, I did not grow these!

Into the hot bath then cold bath you go!

Because the tomatoes were so perfectly ripe, the skin practically fell off!

The tomatoes were then chopped and canned.  I used the raw-pack method on page 354 of the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Voilà, the final product!

I’ve eaten lots of moose steak. Sometimes all you really want is a good steak and a beer. The rest is just filler!

I did some berry picking. Stocked up some wild raspberries. Luckily my friend, Cecille has ample raspberry bushes right in her yard so I don't have to wrestle the bears over them!

I went grouse hunting and discovered a delicious new way to cook grouse! Simple and tasty! 

A beautiful fall view near Mayo, Yukon

One of two spruce grouse we got that day. To remove the breasts, simply stand on the wings and pull the legs. It flips itself inside out!

Not a lot of meat on these little guys. Tasty though! 

We removed the breasts and sliced the meat into strips.

We made ours in the frying pan and added a little butter for extra flavour. Thanks for the recipe, Taylor!

No potatoes but in the bush, beans will do just fine as a side!

On that same hunting excursion, we stumbled across some beautiful low bush cranberries and picked as much as we could.

And they say men don't pick berries!

I harvested the last of my sad garden. Well, I did get some great carrots. Most were orange but there were some beautiful reddish and yellow ones too. The kale was abundant. I made as many kale chips as I could and then when I got sick of that, I simply loaded whole kale leaves into ziplocs, freezing them as is. 

My husband spent several weeks hunting and ended up with a nice, young bull moose that he split between him and his hunting buddy. Thanks to their hard work, we have a nice bounty of meat: steaks, roasts, stew meat, burger, and sausage to last us the winter.

To round off our winter meat supply, we also have 10 chickens (down to 7 now) from Aurora Mountain Farms and a nice little pig that we got in October from our friends at Full Circle Farm.

We’ve already almost polished off all the pork chops but our favorite way of preparing the pork so far is pork tacos! You take a partially frozen roast and with a sharp knife, very thinly slice off pieces of meat. Then fry up the pork with minced garlic, diced onion and homemade taco seasoning. I've been using this recipe for years: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/. I usually reduce the amount of salt. Load the pork mixture on corn tortillas along with refried beans, guacamole, salsa, a crunchy cabbage slaw and you’re good to go!

And then of course, there’s Christmas! I somehow got away with not cooking up a big holiday meal this year. But I did get together with some friends for some holiday baking: shortbread, butter tarts, almond roca and peanut brittle. It was all gone before I knew it! See my mother’s shortbread recipe down below. She has always had the best shortbread as far as I’m concerned!

I came down with a cold on Boxing Day and as I didn’t have turkey leftovers, I dug out some chicken carcasses from the freezer and made chicken soup. I boiled the bones for a good couple hours then strained the broth and picked through the bones for all the meat. Then, in a big pot, I sweated some onions, celery and carrots in oil and added some poultry seasoning and salt and pepper. I added some of the broth, some cubed potatoes and let everything cook through. Finally I added back in the chicken meat and ended up with a delicious chicken soup. The best thing about that soup was that it was made entirely of local ingredients, except for the onions, celery and seasonings. Yes, it is the end of December and I still have beautiful local potatoes and carrots! The next day when I was heating up the leftovers, I broke up frozen kale into the soup. It was a delicious and nutritious addition. 

So that’s the long and short of it. Never have I had such a bounty from my own backyard (literally and figuratively) filling my freezers and pantry. It's been great! Now just to use it all!

Carol’s Shortbread:

1/2 pound of butter, very soft 

pinch of salt

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 cups flour

Place all ingredients in a bowl. Mix and work until very moist. Roll between sheets of wax paper and use cutters to make the desired shape. Bake on ungreased sheets at 300 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.

Notes:

-I usually just use salted butter and then omit the pinch of salt. I make sure the butter is very soft by letting it sit out at least a full day in advance. It’s easier to work the dough! 

-I live in a very dry climate. I find that I have a better dough consistency if I use 1 cup of flour and 1 scant cup of flour. It’s a little more moist and easier to handle. If you find your dough to be too dry, add a bit more butter and work it in.

-I find rolling out the dough to be a bit fussy. I prefer to roll it into even balls, place it on the baking sheet and then use the bottom side of a measuring cup to press down the dough to the desired thickness. If you place a small piece of parchment paper between the dough and the measuring cup, the dough won’t stick. It gives the cookie an irregular edge, which if you add some small pieces of glace cherry to the centre of the cookie, makes it looks sort of like a wreath!

By the way, these cookies keep forever. They just don’t last very long! If you know what I mean...

Beer Batter Fish

While at the lake on a recent fishing trip, we ate quite a bit of fresh trout. Here is our favourite Beer Batter recipe that we've been using for years. To accompany the trout, we warmed up some Garlicky Pepper Jelly as a dipping sauce. Yum. The trout didn't last long enough for a photo shoot!

Beer Batter Fish

Ingredients:
Vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 egg
1 1/4 cups amber ale (or whatever beer you have handy)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (or black will do)
2 pounds fish

Directions:
1) Heat vegetable oil in a cast iron frying pan. You need a fair amount of oil. Up to 1 inch in the pan.
2) Cut up the fish into bite size pieces or how ever big you'd like. Pat dry with paper towel.
3) In a large shallow bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, salt & white pepper.
4) In another bowl, whisk together egg & amber ale, until smooth.
5) Slowly whisk the egg mixture into flour mixture until smooth.
6) Dip pieces of fish into batter.
7) Fry fish in batches so not to overcrowd the fish. Too much fish will make your oil cool down and result in soggy fish. Cooking time varies depending on the size and thickness of fish.
8) Use a slotted spoon or tongs to turn fish for even frying.
9) Remove when golden brown.
10) Allow to drain on a plate lined with paper towel before serving.
11) Serve with your favourite dipping sauce!

Note: When camping or heading to the lake, we pre-measure the dry ingredients and combine them in a ziploc bag. That way when we're ready to fry up some fish all we need to do is mix up the egg and beer and add them to the dry ingredients!

Here Fishy Fishy...Canning Yukon Lake Trout

It’s the last day of summer vacation before it’s back to school. It’s been a spectacular summer. The weather was gorgeous, well, after it decided to stop snowing in May! It was the kind of summer that comes along once every 10 years as far as being consistently hot and sunny. The other bonus is that the forest fire smoke, which I usually associate with hot weather, was minimal. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to spend a lot of time outdoors: walking the dog, camping, going to the lake, fishing, canoeing, hiking, road tripping, etc. It’s been great. I feel refreshed and ready to start another year.

The reflection on Mayo Lake was crystal clear!

Part of that outdoor time included a recent fishing trip to Mayo Lake with my friend, Amberley and my hubby. We camped on Gull Island for 5 days. Again, the weather was great as we set out to catch some trout. We love our lake trout! We caught 10 fish total, which were all decent in size. Still searching for that elusive 40 pounder though... We weren’t sure what we were going to do with them. We love to eat lake trout fresh but find that it just isn’t the same if it’s been frozen. I usually smoke our trout, which is delicious, but this year I thought I would preserve it in jars instead so that I could have a ethical and sustainable alternative to buying canned tuna or salmon. As well, canned trout is a little more practical for every day consumption than smoked trout, which is more of a treat for special occasions.

A nice trout for eating!

I am totally new to canning/jarring. I’ve jarred some jelly before but that’s the extent of it. In anticipation of canning/jarring something this year, I picked up a copy of the Complete Book of Home Preserving put out by Bernardin (the jar company). I already have a canning kit (big pot, rack, funnels, magnetic for putting on lids, etc.), which has gone mostly unused since I bought it a couple years ago. The thing with canning fish, however, is that because it is low in acidity and can easily spoil, it needs to be canned in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers scare me! Don’t people make bombs with these things?! Anyways, I was a little hesitant but I bought one. People have been using these things for over a hundred years after all. 

My new pressure cooker,

After perusing several recipes in books and online, I decided to go with the recipe on page 394 of the Bernardin book. I wanted to keep the recipe simple so that the wonderful flavour of the fish would not be lost in the seasoning. In this recipe, the fish is simply brined in a salt water solution for an hour, packed into jars, and then pressure cooked for the allotted time. Of course, as Amberley and I are both novices, there was a lot of second guessing and questions. All I can say is, what on earth did people do before Google and YouTube?! The other thing with using a pressure cooker, is if you suspect that you’re doing something wrong, you can’t just lift the lid and take a peek!

Page 394- Canning fish

In any case, the fish turned out! Rich, tender, flavourful. I’m so pleased we went this route. I can’t wait to explore some recipes that call for canned tuna or salmon and use this gorgeous canned trout. 

Fish cut up and soaking in brine.

Jars waiting to be filled.

Stuffing the jars.

Beautiful looking fish!

Pressure cooker is full.

The end result!

This past weekend was Discovery Days, a territorial holiday, which celebrates the discovery of gold in the Klondike. One of the events as part of these celebrations was the Horticultural Exhibition, which celebrates local food production. Now obviously my garden was not going to produce any entries. However, I noticed that one of the categories was Canned Goods & Preserves- Meat & Fish. I thought, what the heck, I’ll take down a jar. As fate would have it, our canned trout won first place! Okay, it was the only entry but I’ll take it. I’ve been wearing my ribbon around every since... It truly is award winning fish!

First Place ribbon!

I think canning might be addictive. When I went down to the Horticultural Exhibition to retrieve my trout, a guy offered me some cucumbers. What did I do? I came home and made pickles. Then as I was making pickles and had some pickling solution leftover so I thought I’d make some pickled carrots. Today I whipped up some salsa and at some point this week, I’m going to get canning up some tomatoes. It’s harvest time in the Klondike! Love it! Happy Discovery Day!

Vive le Farmer’s Market!

It’s early August and our local farmer’s market is in full swing. Last week I arrived late but still managed to pick up romaine lettuce, kale, radishes, english cucumbers, zucchini and basil. I couldn’t help but get the feeling that I missed out on a few things as I noticed all the empty bins. This week I got there right at 11a.m. Holy hoards, Batman! Hoards of people! Hoards of food! I probably picked up more than I needed but I just couldn’t help myself. Potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, fennel, radishes, peas, carrots, green onions. I’m set! You might have to wait in line but what a treat! If only I could successfully grow some of these things myself.

Bounty of the week!

My dad grew up on a small farm in rural Alberta. During my childhood, I was regaled with romantic stories about life on the farm. Growing up in the Yukon, I had a blissful ignorance about what living on a farm might actually entail. There weren’t too many farms around that I was aware of. As I moved into adulthood, I came to realize that not all was butterflies and rainbows down home on the farm. However, my dad had this innate ability to cast this wonderful portrait of a bygone era filled with fanciful images, characters and adventures. He made magic out of the dung pile. It couldn’t be that hard! Thanks to dear papa, I’ve always sort of felt that there was a little farm girl somewhere inside me. 

Naturally, when I built my house a couple years ago, I also build several raised garden beds and a green house. I had all these visions of bountiful harvests and going back to that pioneer lifestyle of providing for myself. The thing is, I never grew up gardening. My parents don’t garden. So really, I have really no idea what I’m doing.

The first year, my garden made more food then I knew what to do with. It was great! I got this idea in my head that gardening was easy. It must have been a bumper year...

The second summer I was getting married, I was incredibly busy and didn’t have much time to take care of the garden. I planted some potatoes and other vegetables that I figured didn’t need much tending to. It was not a bumper year. The potatoes were small and few. It was winter before my other vegetables had the chance to produce anything. I also started to get the impression that there was something wrong with my soil. It was growing moss on top and it was very dense. I don’t think the roots could grow. I’m still figuring out what is wrong with the soil. I have consulted a few people. Perhaps the soil is too acidic. Perhaps I added to much peat moss. Maybe I should add some ash or manure or compost or dolomite? I’m working on it but apparently these things can’t be cured over night. 

It probably doesn’t help that I often leave town in the summer months. You see, I’m a teacher so I have summers off. It’s really the only time of year where I can travel. So, unfortunately for my garden, it goes for periods of time trying to survive on its own. That also makes it hard to determine if the soil is the problem or just lack of water. 

This year, shortly after the garden was planted, I left town for 3 weeks. I came back and most of it had never gotten off the ground as the little plants just shriveled up and died. What did survive were the plants that had had a head start because I bought them as seedlings. The lettuce was fine, as were the zucchini and the sunflowers. What didn’t survive were the herbs, except a couple dwarf basil plants- no, dwarf is not the variety! About half the carrots didn’t make it. The tomatoes are growing fine, except they never got pruned and are sort of tilted over. I’m not sure how productive they will be. The kale seems to be doing well. Then I left again for a couple weeks. Upon my return this time, my radishes had all gone to seed as well as what did come up from my mesclun lettuce mix. I’m sort of feeling like the mass-murderer of plants. Maybe I’ll just stick to kale. It doesn’t seem to suffer abandonment issues like my other vegetables.

To make a long story short, it appears I’m not quite the farmer that I imagine myself to be. I’ve got a ways to go before I will be producing a bountiful cornucopia from my own backyard. In fact, my gardening skills seemed to have actually gotten worse over these past couple years. Thank goodness for the farmer’s market!

Even though our local farmer’s market only has a few vendors, they produce quite a variety of vegetables. I’m always impressed by the size and quality of the produce that comes out of the Dawson area. In fact, I sometimes wonder why I even bother with my own garden when I can buy everything I might need at the market.

Comparing farmer’s market vegetables to the produce in the store, the locally produced stuff is vastly superior as well. I don't understand why more people don’t shop at farmer’s markets! I've heard some people claim that it's more expensive. But is it really? Obviously I’m biased because I don’t have a big family to feed and I place a great importance on food so I don’t mind spending good money on quality products. However, I feel that people generally (and I’m guilty of it too) waste a lot of food. It goes bad in the fridge before you can use it. The beauty of the produce from the farmer’s market is that it is so much fresher that it actually lasts longer! So actually, you do waste less, which has to be more economical! 

As local produce hasn’t travelled thousands of kilometres, it is fresher and also has not burned nearly as many fossil fuels to arrive on your plate. On this topic, I’ve really started paying closer attention to labels in stores to see where food is actually coming from. You can get a lot of good produce from our southern Canadian provinces if what you need is not available at the farmer’s market. They are a lot closer than California or better yet Chile or South Africa! If you can eat food in season and try to get food from as close to home as possible, you are doing your part to minimize your impact on the environment and are therefore eating more ethically.

The other thing I enjoy about the farmer’s market is supporting the local economy. You know the sad part? Our local producers actually throw out a ton of produce each year because they can’t sell it! I think I’m going to try jarring some local tomatoes this year so that I have a supply for the winter months and that way I can avoid buying canned tomatoes from elsewhere. I’ve never jarred anything except jam so it should be interesting. Speaking of jarring, we are headed out to our favourite fishing hole today. Yes, I’m leaving my garden to its own devices once again...  Depending on our catch, I just may try jarring some trout as well. I suppose it is possible to embrace that pioneer lifestyle even if your gardening skills are somewhat lacking.

À bientôt!

'O Glorious Summer of Cheese, part deux

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I had a little freak out. A child-like tantrum. Burned milk, too much rennet? No, it was over my inability to count to 8. 8 litres of milk. It was pretty sad. But making cheese is stressful! Especially when you’re making a cheese you’ve never made before, you’re doing it by yourself, you have nobody to consult with, and you can’t just run out to the store and get more milk if you mess it up. Like a child, I also recovered almost instantly. I realized that I just had to chill out. However, when you’ve been building something up in your mind, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But I’m cool now. I survived. I’m okay and so is the cheese. So for any would-be cheese makers out there, I’d say: approach it like a big experiment, don’t beat yourself up and try to enjoy yourself! It’s not nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be once I just relaxed a bit. That was the feta. Now that I’ve got one batch under my belt, I think I can tackle future batches with more confidence. 

In any case, I won’t go step by step to explain how I did the feta because what you need to know is already online. I used this kit to make my feta: http://www.makecheese.ca/products/feta-kit-make-10-batches-of-homemade-feta 

If you’re more curious about the process, the instruction sheet that accompanies the kit is here: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0172/8570/files/Recipe_MAKE_CHEESE_Feta_1.pdf?67

Here are some pix:

Milk has reached 93 degrees F (33 degrees C). Put down the camera and add the feta culture & calcium chloride!

Cover and keep warm while the culture ripens giving it that feta flavour!

Add rennet, let it sit again for another hour then slice it up.

Look at all that curdy goodness!

Stir, let it settle then transfer to molds lined with cheesecloth.

Two chunks of feta draining overnight. One is being weighted down.

Looks like feta

Cut, salted, & draining/drying.

Feta stored in brine. Ready to eat! Yum!

The mozzarella making was much more smooth. I followed the instructions from the cheese making course. See Goats Do Roam post. All was well. The only thing about the mozzarella was that when we made it in the class we wore gloves. When I made it at home I didn’t wear gloves. When you’re stretching the cheese, it’s VERY hot. I think the gloves absorb some of the heat. Next time I will track down some gloves for my poor little fingies.

Five little discs of mozzarella ready for the freezer. One ready for eating!

My only issue with cheese making in general is that it takes a heck of a lot of milk to make a fairly small amount of cheese. That’s fine for cheeses like feta where you generally only use a little bit at a time. But mozzarella? I could eat what I made in one sitting! Anyways, I froze the mozzarella in an attempt to slow down my consumption. If I ration it out a bit, maybe it’ll last longer? I think the feta will be fine in the brine. They are both so fresh and delicious. I'm convinced it's even tastier because I know exactly what is in it! Guess I need to get some more goat’s milk.

B-b-b-bird, bird, bird. Bird is the word.

A while back, my friend Jennifer, who had been subjected to me lamenting the lack of protein in my life, took pity and bestowed upon me one of her Hutterite chickens. Her family is from Saskatchewan and they have been getting Hutterite chickens for years. Now, I don’t know much about the Hutterites but I’m going to assume that because they typically use traditional farming practices and they are a group of people that adhere strongly to their traditions that the use of pesticides or GMO products would be a strict no-no. I’m also going to assume that because of these traditions that they treat their animals with dignity and respect. Therefore, it seems that Hutterite chicken is about as ethical as you can get.

So, what happens when you have one chicken? Do you save it for a special occasion? Do you roast it whole? Do you debone it and ration it out? These are serious considerations. I certainly didn’t want any of it to go to waste! I think because I didn’t know for awhile when I would be getting my next chicken, I didn’t do anything with it. However, I did put my chicken order in with Aurora Mountain Farm and my chickens will be arriving on my doorstep any day now. It’s time to use that Hutterite chicken! As an old friend from high school was in town for a visit, I decided I would try it out on her!

Did I mention that it’s massive?! A 7 pounder! I came across a recipe in one of my fave cookbooks, Whitewater Cooks at home. The recipe was Tuscan Style Lemon and Herb Split Chicken, p. 124. It seemed like a great summer recipe. The chicken was to be cooked on the BBQ and used fresh herbs and lemon. Very summery. Well, in the end it turned out quite nice but it was not without its challenges. It turns out it’s rather difficult to manoeuvre a large bird split in half (but still attached) around on a BBQ. I think in the future I would only do this recipe if I were using a smaller bird. It might be even be better if I were using a different species all together such as a cornish game hen, squab, quail or even a local wild bird, such as a ruffed grouse. It might be a lot less hassle just to do it in the oven as well. 

Here was our menu for the evening:
Appetizer:
Herbed Chèvre & Pistachio Balls served with Sourdough bread & crackers
Main Course:
Tuscan Style Lemon and Herb Split Chicken (with assorted dijon mustards)
Roasted Potato Wedges
Summer Salad
Dessert:
Assorted squares from the local bakery, Cheechako’s

Here are the recipes:

Herbed Chèvre & Pistachio Balls 
This is a great, easy, make ahead appy that always goes over well! They were all gone before I remembered to take a picture!

300g creamy goat cheese
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh oregano
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh basil
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 small pieces of sundried tomato, minced (the kind that are kept in oil)
2 small garlic cloves, minced
1 cup finely chopped pistachio

With a fork, mash together all ingredients except the nuts. Form into small balls and roll into the nuts. Cover and chill for up to 2 hours before serving. Can be made up ahead.

NOTES:
1) If the goat cheese is not room temperature, you can defrost it slightly in the microwave. You just want to be able to mash it easily.
2) I didn’t have fresh thyme so I used 1/2 tsp of dried thyme instead. When using dried herbs, reduce the amount by at least half!
3) 2 garlic cloves make it very garlicky so you may want to only use one.
4) I took the balls out of the fridge an hour prior to serving so that they were soft and spreadable on the bread or crackers.

Tuscan Style Lemon and Herb Split Chicken
This chicken is split down the middle and marinated overnight in a mixture of lemon juice, zest, olive oil, fresh herbs, paprika, salt and pepper before being cooked on the BBQ. I made quite a few variations to this recipe so below is what I did, not the original version of the recipe. However, I did scale the measurements here as if I was using a bird half the size. Using a 7 pound bird is not recommended for this recipe unless you are baking it in the oven!

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (3.5 lbs)
5 lemons (for zest, juice & garnish)
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Directions:
1) Split the chicken by first removing the backbone. Turn the chicken onto its breast so that the back is facing up. Use your fingers to feel where the backbone is located then use a sturdy pair of scissors to cut down one side of the chicken right next to the backbone (you’re basically cutting through the ribs). Then cut along the other side of the backbone and remove it completely. Next, open up the bird and with a sharp knife slice the breast bone with your knife (don’t go all the way through). You want the bird to lay flat. You can use your hands and press down on each breast to crack it further. Flip the bird back over and put it in a baking dish.
2) Wash the lemons, and prepare them. You need 1 tbsp of zest. Then you need the juice of 2.5 lemons for the marinade. Save the other lemons for when you are actually cooking the bird.
3) Combine the lemon juice, zest, olive oil, garlic, oregano, rosemary, paprika, salt and pepper.
Pour the marinade over the bird and rub it all over. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4) Pre-heat the BBQ to high heat then turn it down as low as your BBQ will go.
5) Remove the chicken from the marinade and sprinkle with salt all over.
6) Place the chicken on the BBQ skin side down on the grill allowing for grill marks to form. When lifting off grill, lift slowly to avoid tearing skin. Move to the top rack and allow to cook, flipping every 15 minutes or so for even cooking. Occasionally squeeze lemon juice over the bird as it’s cooking from the remaining lemon halves.
7) Cooking time will vary. Allow for approximately 1.5 hours for a bird of this size. (My 7 pounder took 3 hours!) Use a meat thermometre and ensure that meat has an internal temperature of 165 degrees F in its thickest parts. Check both the leg and breast meat.
8) When the chicken is almost done. Grill the remaining lemon halves face down.
9) Serve on a large platter garnished with grilled lemon halves and sprigs of rosemary.

NOTES:
1) The original recipe says to cover the chicken with bricks or rocks covered in tinfoil on top of the chicken to flatten it. I presuming that they want you to do this to help make nice grill marks on the bird. It sounded a little too labour intensive to me so instead, I placed a baking sheet on top of the chicken loaded with 2 heavy cast iron frying pans. It then says to put down the cover and let it cook for 40 minutes. The problem is they say that your BBQ should be about 200 degrees F. My BBQ wouldn’t go lower than 400 degrees F. There was no way that I could leave it on the lower grill or it would be charred to bits. So what I did was let it get those initial grill marks, then I removed the weight and then I moved the chicken to the top rack so it would not be in the direct heat and burn. I’m not convinced that I needed to add that weight on top of the bird. I’m pretty sure you will still get nice grill marks and it might actually be better because, as careful as I was, I lost a lot of skin when I lifted it off the grill. I’m guessing it was difficult to remove from the bird from the grill because it was being pressed down so hard. Next time I’ll forgo the weight and let you know how it turns out.

 2) I also found that I had to turn it several times to ensure even cooking, which was awkward with a very large bird, all the more reason to use a smaller bird. The legs cooked much faster than the breast. Luckily, dark meat handles longer cooking times well without getting dried out. When I cooking this bird, the legs actually came off the body when they were done. I removed them from the grill and kept them warm while the rest of the bird finished cooking.

The final product!

Roasted Potato Wedges
10 small potatoes
olive oil
herbes de Provence
paprika
granulated garlic
salt & pepper
red chili flakes

Wash and cut potatoes into wedges. Toss potatoes in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Lay on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for an hour or more until crispy and done. Stir a couple times through the baking time for even cooking.

Summer Salad

The summer salad consisted of red leaf lettuce from my garden, a bit of thinly sliced red onion, toasted almond slivers, halved blackberries. The vinaigrette consisted of grainy dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, a touch of maple syrup, s/p, grapeseed oil.

So as you can imagine, trying to get this bird cooked must have been quite the spectacle. However, the end result was worth it. It was delicious and the lemon flavour really came through. I will definitely make this recipe again now that I know what I'm doing. For you it will be much easier because I’ve done all the hard work. Just follow my suggestions and you should be fine! As for myself, in the future, I think I will keep the experimentation to a minimum when I have guests!