Surprise Fall!

 We had a snap spell of bona fide fall weather.  It got down to not quite freezing overnight last night and we put sheets over the tomatoes and eggplants just to be safe.  My brother also arrived for his week of drill and bureaucracy.  I'd bought 2 whole chickens on ridiculous sale a few months back and thawed one out in John's honor.  The high temp yesterday was mid 50's and perfect for roasting a chicken.  I kind of made the recipe up based on the wonderful Anne Burrell.  I enjoy her program every weekday at 1300.  I can only catch the first half of her show because I am in the shower every work weekday by 1320.  I took 4 Tbsp. of butter and softened and mashed it with 1 Tbsp potted garlic (I prefer Lee Kum Kee), a generous sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper, 2 tsp coarse kosher salt and a generous 1 Tbsp minced fresh rosemary.  I loosened the flesh of a 5.2# roaster chicken and rubbed the butter mixture under the skin.  I also generously salted the cavity of the carcass.  I coarsely chopped 2 carrots, 2 onions, and 2 ribs of celery and layed them in my enameled cast iron dutch oven as a base for my chicken.  I threw a cup of water into the pot and roasted the bird at 375 degrees until the juices ran clear and the temp registered 170 degrees.

I started on the pie early in the afternoon.  I got the apples at the grocery store and got regular old granny smith.  I never got to go to the orchard for strawberry picking in the field so I want to go for canning apples.  I used this recipe and it was awesome.  Next time I will use a larger pie plate and half the amount of the streusel topping.  I baked this pie for 65 minutes which was 10 minutes longer than required and the apples were still very firm.  Maybe next time I will try a different apple variety.  This recipe also calls for the filling to be tossed with a caramel apple dip mixture which of course was delicious, but in a time crunch, could be omitted.  Mmmmmm.....pie.  Autumn is the time for pie.