If you’re not interested in the story, here’s the recipe.

Hello reader,

How are you? I hope you have enjoyed a good week in food and life.

My week has been good. New things cropped up at work which added to the excitement of what I do in the office. I like how we have become better at detecting signs of imminent change, and we act more quickly. Ideally, we would be able to both pre-empt potential incidents and prevent them from worsening.

In terms of food, my week has been dominated by an incessant desire for chocolate. I am craving it every day; especially while behind my desk at work and in the evening after I have washed the dishes.

I do not seem to be able to get enough, yet each morning when I stand on the scales the feelings of regret and guilt are powerful. Not powerful enough though to elicit change in my chocolate-seeking behaviour. There will be some amateur psychologists who will tell me to focus on superior quality chocolate or to bring more fruit and vegetable snacks to work. I do these things already!

Recipe

Ingredients

• Chicken
• Potato
• Pumpkin
• Shallots
• Brussels sprouts [1]
• Fennel
• Lebanese eggplant (aubergine)
• Salt
• Pepper
• MSG [2, 3]
• Neutral oil, I use rice bran oil
• Grated cheese, I prefer a hard cheese for this with good melting qualities

Instructions

Tools and equipment

• Cooking shears
• Knives
• Cutting boards
• Baking tray
• Baking paper

Initial preparation

1. Turn the oven on to 180 °C.
2. Make sure your cutting boards are clean and dry.
3. Sharpen your knives because a sharp knife is a safe knife.
4. Lay some baking paper on a baking tray or what American cooks tend to call a baking sheet.

Chicken

Content warning! [old medical school anatomy story depicting graphic scenes]

1. Lay your chicken on a cutting board and take a pair of cooking shears and cut the vertebral column out. This reminds me of year two in medicine. At the end of the year prior to examinations some of us ventured back to the anatomy laboratory to revise some anatomy on our cadavers. I was shocked to find all the cadavers were lying prone and prosectors with circular saws were harvesting vertebral columns for the professor of neuroanatomy. It would be fun to use a circular saw on my chicken, however, all I had were cooking shears. [4]
2. The next step is the fun bit, splay out the chicken with the fingers of both hands under the bird and press down on its breast with your thumbs. You can confirm the job by using the heel of your palm and pressing down to flatten the chicken onto the cutting board. [5]
3. Season the bird on all sides and if you like poke your fingers between the skin and muscle and get some salt up between the two layers. Gently work your hand in there and have a good feel around and spread that salt. Be gentle though, you don’t want to damage your bird.
4. Sprinkle a little neutral oil on the skin, and gently massage the skin.
5. Lay the bird on one side of a baking sheet.

Vegetables

1. Cut the potato and pumpkin into bite-sized pieces. Place them into a large bowl.
2. Quarter the shallots and shred the Brussels sprouts. Put them into the bowl with the potato and pumpkin.
3. Slice some shallots and red onion and put them into the bowl.
4. Slice the fennel and put it into the bowl too.
5. Peel the eggplant and slice it.
6. Add a generous slug of neutral oil to the bowl and enough salt for your taste and with your hands mix all those vegetables and coat them with oil and salt.
7. Feel free to add things like grated cheese and herbs to suit your taste.
8. Spread the lubricated and salty vegetables on the baking sheet next to the chicken.
9. Insert a meat thermometer into the thigh and put the baking sheet into the oven.

Cooking in one baking tray

1. Put the baking tray into the oven and use the thermometer’s app to monitor the cooking.
2. When the app signals it’s time to remove the baking tray, take the tray out of the oven and allow the chicken to rest.

Plating and serving

1. Once the chicken has rested, transfer the vegetables to another tray and put the chicken onto a cutting board.
2. Use a sharp knife to break down the chicken and separate the legs and wings and dissect the breasts.
3. Keep one thigh and drumstick for dinner and a portion of the vegetables too.
4. Place the rest of the chicken pieces and vegetables into vacuum bags.
5. Seal the bags and place them into the refrigerator or freezer for meals later.
6. Place the remaining chicken and vegetables onto a dinner plate.
7. If you want, you could make some instant gravy for the meal. I didn’t want to tonight.
8. Give thanks to the Lord for His many blessings.
9. Eat with a knife and fork.

Thoughts on the meal

It’s not like I haven’t cooked a chicken and vegetable tray bake recently. This remains a simple “pot” meal that is both easy and convenient.

I also added some kale sprouts for extra kale flavour.

Final thoughts

1. Do you like cooking a whole chicken and keeping it for later meals?
2. Do you like flattening the chicken first to make cooking faster?
3. What are your favourite vegetables to eat with chicken?

References

1. Kapusta-Duch, J., et al., The beneficial effects of Brassica vegetables on human health. Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig, 2012. 63(4): p. 389-95.
2. Obayashi, Y. and Y. Nagamura, Does monosodium glutamate really cause headache? : a systematic review of human studies. J Headache Pain, 2016. 17: p. 54.
3. FSANZ, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE A Safety Assessment TECHNICAL REPORT SERIES NO. 20, A.G.D.o. Health, Editor. 2003: Canberra.
4. Bogduk, N., W. Tynan, and A.S. Wilson, The nerve supply to the human lumbar intervertebral discs. J Anat, 1981. 132(Pt 1): p. 39-56.
5. Publications, H.H., How To Avoid Foodborne Illnesses. 2017, Harvard Health Publications: Boston.