A Dirty Bird (aka Potato Chip Chicken!)

Your New Favorite Roast Chicken

Good Wednesday to you all! 

And, welcome to the many new friends who have joined us thanks to a lovely write-up in Leslie Stephens’ newsletter “morning person” yesterday. 

To give you a quick lay of the land, I do my very best to get this newsletter out to all subscribers on Wednesdays, which currently includes two columns, “À Noter” and “Dinner Again.” 

On Sundays, I also send out a recipe to paid subscribers who make this newsletter possible to get out the door. 

I also sometimes include videos based on my recent cookbook Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food, as well as the “Dinner Again” column and other things you might enjoy.  

Here is some more info about me and this newsletter, should you like to dip in. 

I am so happy you all are here. Here we go! 

À Noter

🧵Obsessing About: Sarah Espeute’s gorgeous embroidered tablecloths and napkins. My friend Katie sent me her work a few months ago and now Sarah’s work is popping up everywhere in my feed. She’s based in Marseille, where I’m headed in a few months.

🍝 Plating Up: Flour + Water’s new dried pastas! My friends behind the wonderful SF restaurants Flour + Water, Penny Roma have recently launched dried pastas. You know how I feel about pasta and these are very, very good. You can buy them online or if you’re in the Bay area, pop by Whole Foods. Also, into their branding which reminds me of no name in Canada.

👡 Slipping On: My first pair of Birkenstocks in 20 years. I got an ad targeted on Instagram and it worked. I now own “Madrid” sandals in mud green. I got ad targeted again for the tomato red color and by the time I went to purchase them they were sold out in my size. If you have a smaller foot than I do, get on it! These are chic! Or am I just middle-age? 

Dinner Again

🍗 Saturday: Elettra made Chad’s Potato Chip Chicken from my book for dinner. It is such a winner! We devoured two birds between six adults. Recipe at the end of this email! Elettra rotated the bird a few times during cooking and it’s a smart edit. The bird more evenly browns that way. She also wrote a cookbook, so… 

🍕Sunday: Homemade pizza with dough that I batched and froze. This is the best pizza dough and it’s not hard to make! I sautéed some shiitake mushrooms with a little bit of shallot and garlic. Swooshed some creme fraiche and added the mushrooms and some of that amazing mozzarella I picked up over the weekend. Topped with some chicories. 

🥣 Monday: A bit of a failure. I planned on making a soup recipe for you all, but the sausage I had wasn’t great, so it turned into a potato and kale soup with fennel. It wasn’t bad, but just wasn't what I wanted and not worthy of sharing. See? It happens to me too. 

🧀 Tuesday: Snack night with friends, which included lots of cheese and a new recipe coming to paid subscribers on Sunday! It also has cheese, but vegetables too. 

Photo by Tara Donne for Colu Cooks, Food Styled by Pearl Jones and Props by Rebecca Bartoshesky.

A Dirty Bird

(aka Potato Chip Chicken)

This is the brainchild of my husband, Chad. You may know him from his famous garlic bread recipe in Back Pocket Pasta. As he knows, I loved cornflake chicken and Shake ’n Bake as a kid, much to my mother’s dismay. This version gives a nod to my childhood nostalgia, with some upgrades. Yes, I’m asking you to cover your chicken with potato chips and butter, along with some smoked paprika and brown sugar to really take it there, and I promise you it does. The chicken stays very juicy on the inside and gets crunchy on the outside. I love this chicken. Serve it with a cabbage slaw and some roasted potatoes (yes, more carbs) and, whatever you do, make sure to scrape up the brown bits, extra crisped in the schmaltz, that have formed on the bottom of the sheet pan and steal them for yourself. Otherwise, you’ll be fighting over them at the table.

SERVES 4

TIME 1 hour and 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 chicken (3 ½  to 4 pounds/1.6 to 1.8 kg) Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

5 ounces (140 g)barbecue potato chips, such as the Kettle brand

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 teaspoons light brown sugar

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Season your bird well with salt and pepper, inside and out, and place it on a nonstick sheet pan or one that is lined with parchment.

In a food processor, pulse the potato chips until they resemble a coarse crumb. Add the butter, smoked paprika, and the sugar to the processor and pulse again to combine. The crumbs should be pretty fine at this point.

Gently press the potato chip crumbs all over the surface of the chicken so it is evenly coated. Roast in the preheated oven until a thermometer registers 165°F (74°C), about 1 ½  hours. Allow the bird to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Carve, plate, delight.

Have a good rest of your week, we are halfway through! If you make the chicken, let me know!

With love,

Colu xo