August 20, 2011

Alex cooks roast chicken



Last night I was pulling a chicken out of the fridge when Alex pops his head in to show off his latest costume (he was wearing his dressing gown and declared he was spider man!). After telling him how cool he looked I then turned my attention back to the chicken. As I was pulling it out of the plastic and rinsing it off I hear "Cool mum, is that what a chicken would look like without a head?"

"Yes, it IS what a chicken looks like without a head and feathers" was my reply.

"Can I touch it?"

"Sure, but wash your hands first AND afterward..."

I don't know about you, but sometimes I am in such a rush to get dinner on the table I forget that kids are fascinated with the everyday tasks we try to complete in record time just to get them over and done with (like popping the chicken in the oven so you can then keep an eye on homework, run a bath and finish some paper work that has been staring you in the face for a good part of a week!).

It was Friday night, homework was over for the week, I was excited to have Saturday away from work and nothing was really happening so I let the boys discover a raw chicken. At first they poked and prodded the wings and thighs with the tips of their fingernails, then once they felt comfortable they went further. Max gave up after wiggling a leg around then got grossed out when Alex decided to really investigate and poked his finger down the chooks neck cavity.

With Max off scrubbing his hands within an inch of his life, Alex started in on the questions-

"What's in there?" (the middle cavity) "can I touch it?.....can I stuff it?.......can I cook the chicken?"

My first reaction which I am not really proud of was forming in my head (NO, because it would take twice as long), thankfully went with YES- after all it was Friday and he actually wanted to learn!

I have to let it be known I wasn't very happy with the position he was in when stuffing the bird but he looked at me when I asked him to stop squatting on the bench and pleaded that it was way to hard to stuff the bird while standing on the step! (I'm still trying to work out the logic to this one?)

Anyway, I cut up an onion and he delicately placed the first half in the chickens cavity, the second piece of onion was pushed in with a little more force and then the half piece of lemon was squashed in with quite a bit of force ( confidence is a wonderful tool). I gave him a branch of basil and asked him to put it in with the lemon and onion, however, he was convinced there was no room left! Once I started doing it myself he quickly took control as he was not going to be letting mummy anywhere near his bird!

OK so hard part over, I then gave Alex some dried oregano to sprinkle on top, I added the salt (he LOVES salt so never a good idea to leave him alone with the stuff) and we were just about ready to add the butter. I think his favouring part was slitting the skin of the chicken and stuffing in butter pieces...we ended up with double the amount of butter I would usually put in but I have to tell you it was one juicy tasting bird!  As you can see, I was so impressed with Alex's chicken skills I completely forgot to take a photo of the beautifully cooked bird.....this was all that was left!


A great job by my mini master chef and as he has informed me, he will cook ALL the chicken dishes from now on seeing as he did such a good job (his words not mine...but I have to agree he did an excellent job).  I'm just hoping he'll always enjoy pottering around in the kitchen and enjoy cooking for others well beyond the ripe old age of 6. Well done Alex!




4 comments:

The Kings said...

Love it! That's great. Maybe he will follow in Mum's footsteps :)

TKW said...

That's awesome! I'm so glad you said "yes." Like you, I am often so hurried to get dinner together that I forget to engage my kids in the process.

Susie said...

I so understand, sometimes the kitchen is a place of deft and swift work. What a fun dinner to have curiosity peak! The chicken looks delicious all butchered up, a testament to the taste!

Bryan said...

Well done young Chef! I love the time that the kiddos and I spend in the kitchen together. I do find myself hurrying dinner too often and forget how much fun we have.

Sounds like a great dinner!