Last night I roasted the heck out of a chicken. I mean, I butterflied it, I smeared an unholy amount of herb butter between the meat and the skin (and I do mean unholy. 6 tbsp.) and then I roasted it for a mere 40 minutes at 450.

I was going to make a pan sauce, but, as always happens, the fat and drippings just burned, burned, burned. And charred sauce does not appeal to me. I tried something a little controversial to keep the burning from happening- I poured about 1/4 cup of chicken stock on the bottom of my roasting pan, under the chicken- but it didn't help. It (or maybe the 6 tbsp of butter) did make the chicken ridiculously moist. I know what I need is a smaller roasting pan that will go from oven to stovetop- I've got my eye on this puppy- and I think until then I'm going to have to abandon my roast chicken with pan sauce dreams. (I'll still have roast chicken, mind you. But I can't make a pan sauce with my ginormo roasting pan.)

Alongside I made a pea and watercress puree- something I normally make with frozen peas (I know, I know- but, y'all? I am not shelling fresh peas to then puree them) and which couldn't be easier. Simmer up some frozen peas in chicken stock for five minutes, add a bunch of watercress and simmer some more, then puree in the blender. However, all I had on hand were canned LeSeur peas. And I can say with confidence that I do NOT recommend those peas for purees- they just aren't as firm, or something, and the puree is watery and gross instead of bright and tasty.