Chicken in Milk

Fall in Houston, Texas- a breezy 88 degrees on this cool-for-us day, so I thought I would cook up this fall meal. This is definitely a winter meal. You use the stove, you use the oven, you open the oven and stick half your body in there.  You are already making chicken so you might as well make mash potatoes. More stove top steam, more heat in the kitchen. Mash potato recipe not included because I'm not good at making them....yet. 

I served on paper plates because our dishwasher is broke and I'm not about to keep my hands in hot water washin' dishes.

Chicken in Milk
Adapted from Jamie Oliver

• 3 pound whole chicken
• salt and pepper
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 stick cinnamon
• 1 handful of fresh sages
• 2 lemon's worth of zest
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 pint milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Melt a stick of butter in a cast iron dutch oven (or other pot with lid that can go in the over) over the stove.  Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper and fry it in the butter, turning the chicken to make it golden all over.  Remove from heat, remove chicken from pot, and throw away the butter left in the pot.  Don't clean the pot.

Put the chicken back in the pot and add the rest of the ingredients.  Cook in the preheated oven for 1.5 hours with the lid on.  Baste with cooking juice occasionally.

To serve, pour plenty of the juice over the chicken.