Cooking the Books: Roast Chicken and Potatoes in The Secret Garden

It seems appropriate to start with The Secret Garden here. It’s the first book I remember being read aloud from as a child, an act that I think solidified me as the reader I am today. I had a lovely copy of the book, hardbound and packed with illustrations by Graham Rust. A copy I still have today.

Funny fact about me: I’m a seasonal reader. There are books on my shelves reversed specifically for certain times of the year. Something about their tone or setting begs to be read at only very specific times. For instance I read Wuthering Heights every January and Jane Eyre every February. I can’t imagine spending time on those grey moors unless there is a blanket of clouds over the sun and empty trees outside my door. It’s a bit like the way we experience food honestly. You wouldn’t eat an Heirloom tomato in January, and beets are so much better enjoyed in the darkest hours of winter.

So spring is here and this is about the time, usually when I see the first snowdrop or crocus opening, that I pull my copy of The Secret Garden out and retrace my steps in the hallowed halls of Misselthwaite Manor to Mary’s blooming garden.

I always remember hearing about all the food they eat in this book, it always sounded so delicious. Whether it was coming from the well-stocked kitchens prepared by Mrs. Loomis the cook, or the nourishing food that Susan Sowerby, Dikon’s mother put together, food seemed to be everywhere in the book. I often felt a small grumble in my stomach as I was read to about pails of fresh milk, homemade cottage bread slathered with raspberry jam and marmalade, buttered crumpets, currant buns, hot oatcakes, muffins, dough-cakes, and the all-important bowl of warm porridge, sweetened with treacle or brown sugar. As I’ve gotten older and a little wiser in my reading I’ve begun to understand that Hodgson Burnett was creating an underlying theme of good food nourishing the mind, body and spirit, showing us that as the flowers and plants grew, so do Mary's and Colin's appetites.

I thought it would be nice to bring both the worlds of the book together with this meal, the lavish rich foods of Misselthwaite and the simple delicious foods of Dikon’s home. Roasted chicken and potatoes. The chicken, plump and dressed simply with butter and salt, coming from Mrs. Loomis’ kitchen. The roasted potatoes, the simplest and most filling of comfort foods. This meal is hands down one of my favorite. It’s simple to prepare, and perfect for a Sunday meal in together.

I pulled the recipe for the roast chicken from Michael Ruhlman’s book Ruhlman’s Twenty, it’s a simple recipe, and one I use time and again.

Ingredients:

One 3 to 4 pound chicken

1 medium onion quartered

4 whole cloves of garlic peeled

Kosher salt.

Directions:

About 1 hour before cooking the chicken, remove it from the refrigerator, and rinse it. Preheat your oven to 450 F. Toss your quartered onion and garlic cloves in the cavity. Salt the skin and place in a cast iron skillet.

Toss in the oven. After 1 hour, check the color of the juices. If they run red, return the chicken to the oven and check again in 5 minutes.

While your chicken is roasting in the oven you can start on your potatoes.

Potatoes:

Dice an Idaho potatoes (I used one big one and it was enough for two people). Toss in olive oil until your pieces are lightly coated. Toss again with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Place on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (makes cleaning up way easier!)