it's all gravy

I know it's been awhile, but hopefully with the upcoming holiday season, I will have a lot to write about!

In the past few weeks, my roommate, Jade, has started a ritual of roasting a chicken and making rice and gravy on Thursday nights. She started this because it was a meal her grandma always made for her, and she had not had it in a long time. The first night she cooked, I helped her out a little, and the result was a pretty tasty (and filling) meal. However, the one thing we could not really master was the gravy. The next few weeks she experimented with a few different methods, but none of them were as good as she remembered. Neither one of us could figure out what to do to make the gravy better, which was frustrating since it seems like a relatively simple thing to make.

Tonight, I decided to try again. Both of my roommates have gone home for Thanksgiving break already, so I needed to find something to occupy my time at dinner anyway. I went the grocery store, where I bought a roasting chicken and some rice. It took me 30 minutes to get home from Barrack's Road, which shows you how bad traffic is in Charlottesville on Friday at rush hour.

I roasted the chicken, and in the process I set off the smoke detectors twice. In an attempt to be healthier, I rubbed olive oil instead of butter on the bird. Apparently, olive oil smokes a lot, so I had to keep running around the apartment waving a towel under the detectors.

With the help of The Pioneer Women (mentioned in an earlier blog) I was finally able to master, or at least improve, the gravy. The key is to make a roux, a combination of the pan drippings from the chicken and flour. I browned that in the roasting pan on the stovetop (to preserve all the flavor), and once it was a good consistency, I added the chicken broth. From there it was only a matter of adding more broth until I had enough gravy. It was a very filling dinner, and now I am utilizing all the parts of the chicken that I did not eat by making homemade chicken stock! The apartment smells very chicken-y.

Another thing I learned from all this is that gravy is basically grease. I never realized that fact when I was little, when I would pour it all over my mashed potatoes or turkey. Even though it tastes delicious, seeing the leftovers congealed in the pan kind of grossed me out. Just think about that flowing through your arteries...or just don't.