Recipes

Feather Ridge Farm Fresh Chicken SOUP!

soup It’s that time of year again… here is our simple homemade FRF chicken soup! Using a Feather Ridge Farm chicken produces a beautiful sweet broth that is not only delicious…it seems to keep winter colds at bay for us! Eat as it (which is how we do it) or add noodles or rice.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 parsnips, cut same way
3 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 fresh thyme sprigs
Handful of fresh rosemary
2 quarts chicken stock, recipe follows
3 full cups chunked cooked chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Place a soup pot over medium heat and coat with the oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Fold in the chicken, and continue to simmer for another couple of minutes to heat through; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley right before serving.

Chicken Stock:

1 whole Feather Ridge Farm chicken (about 4-5 pounds).
2 carrots, cut in large chunks
3 celery stalks, cut in large chunks
2 large white onions, quartered
1/4 bunch fresh thyme
Small handful of fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns, a little salt to taste

Place the chicken and vegetables in a large stockpot over medium heat. Pour in only enough cold water to cover (about 3 quarts); too much will make the broth taste weak. Toss in the thyme, rosemary and peppercorns, and allow it to slowly come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and gently simmer partially covered, until the chicken is done. Add a little more water if necessary to keep the chicken covered while simmering.

Carefully remove the chicken to a cutting board. When it’s cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones; hand-shred the meat to add to soup.
Carefully strain the stock through a fine sieve into another pot to remove the vegetable solids. Cover and refrigerate for up to one week or freeze.

Yield: 2 quarts or more

Crispy Moist Roast Chicken

crispy-chicken

Here is how we cook our crispy moist chicken at Feather Ridge Farm!

Crispy skin is a stated priority in the recipe for Martha’s Perfect Roasting Chicken. Here is her very SIMPLE recipe. There’s no rounding up a dozen herbs or tinkering with the temperature.

You pat the chicken dry (inside and out) to eliminate the steam issue; place in roasting pan and drizzle olive oil over it: grind liberal amounts of sea salt and pepper; (sometimes but NOT
necessary, we stuff it with lemon, rosemary and garlic and (MOST IMPORTANT) roast it “fast and high” at 450 degrees F for about 20 minutes per pound. Check chicken because oven temps vary. This creates a scrumptious crispy skin and delicious moist meat.

Here is a really YUMMY simple pan sauce: While the chicken’s resting sweetly on a platter, deglaze the roasting pan with white wine or chicken stock, strain it, and add a tablespoon of
butter for a rich, very delicious pan sauce. The results: juicy chicken, crisp, brown skin with an amazing sauce.

Nothing beats the feeling of mastering a classic roasting chicken!!

Beer Can Chicken

beer-can-chicken We have had requests for recipes on how to make good “Beer Can Chicken” for the barbecue grill. Here is one we have tried and it is delicious! Most important
ingredient is a fresh Feather Ridge Farm chicken! Enjoy!

Spice Rub:

2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zested
1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) chicken
1 (12-ounce) can beer

Directions

Heat a gas or charcoal grill with a lid big enough to accommodate the FRF chicken. Put a drip pan below the grates.

Mix the ingredients for the Spice Rub until they are well blended. (This will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for 1 week.) Rub it all over the chicken, inside and out.

Open the beer and take a big swig or just pour out a couple of ounces. Sit the chicken on the beer can so the legs are at the bottom and the wings are at the top. Stand the beer can on the grates over the drip pan. Put the cover on and cook over indirect heat until the juices run clear, about 1 hour. (If using charcoal, push the coals to 1 side so the chicken is not over direct heat.)

Note: This chicken can also be cooked in a 350 degrees F oven. Just stand the beer can in a shallow roasting pan and cook about 1 hour or until juices run clear. Juicy and delicious!!

Happy Summer barbecuing from Feather Ridge Farm!

Favorite Recipes from Cluck!

Savoury Eggs:

This dish is an EASY recipe for cooking Feather Ridge Farm delicious fresh eggs. We enjoy it most with out Pullet eggs! (plump small eggs from our young chickens).

Mince a couple of onions, in a sauce pot simmer onions in butter, add a jar of crushed tomatoes and several generous handfuls of fresh baby spinach. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Once the sauce is thickened, carve out four hollows at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock and drop in FRF eggs. Add a splash of water so there is enough liquid to cook the tops of the eggs and place a lid on for a few minutes.

When it is time to serve (you can tell by looking at the eggs), ladle two eggs and their sauce over a piece of toasted rustic bread rubbed with raw garlic and olive oil or butter.

Enjoy!