Garlic Rosemary Pork and Garlic Rosemary Chicken

I've never cooked with rosemary before because it just looks... woodsy and smells... Christmasy. Those are two traits that I've been afraid to cook with until now. I practically got an entire rosemary plant through Bountiful Baskets so I figured I better try it. I LOVE ROSEMARY! It's amazing! It does smell Christmasy and is kind of like how I imagine chopping up pine needles would be, but holy cow! I love it! Here are the two recipes that I tried with it and I am HOOKED!

Garlic Rosemary Pork

4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
4 large cloves of garlic (I did a couple more:)), pressed or chopped
1 tsp salt

Combine the above ingredients, rub over pork (I used a pork roast... don't ask me what kind, I'm not that knowledgeable about my pork roasts just yet), put it in the crock pot on low and cook until done (3 hoursish). When it's about done start boiling some potatoes for mashed potatoes. The roast I used was way lean so I didn't have to skim the fat off for the gravy. I just poured the juices in a sauce pan, mixed about 2 Tbsp flour with 1 cup hot water making sure that all the flour chunks have been dissolved, poured it in the juices and boiled until thick. I don't like my gravy thick because these juices were way strong of the herb, garlic and salt so I didn't boil this for too long.



Garlic Rosemary Chicken

1 3.5 pound roasting chicken
4 sprigs of rosemary (I will actually use 6 next time I make this)
4 large cloves of garlic
Salt (this measurement is not specific because you will need about a Tbsp for the inside of the chicken and more for the outside)

Preheat oven to 400.

Chop up two sprigs of rosemary and all the garlic together. Pour a heaping Tbsp of salt inside the bird (this seasons the breasts). Place the other two sprigs of rosemary inside the bird and tie the legs together. Rub the outside of the bird with the garlic and rosemary mixture, place it in a baking dish breast side down, wash your hands THOROUGHLY then sprinkle salt over the chicken until well coated (salt just enough but not too much, you can always add more salt later but you can't extract it, but really I don't think you can possible over salt the outside of the chicken). Cover the  chicken in aluminum foil and place it in the oven for an hour. Take it out and check the temperature to see if it is 180. If not, place it back in the oven for another 20 minutes until the temperature of the meat (not the inside cavity of the bird) reaches 180.

Take the chicken out, allow it to cool 10 minutes (you can be making gravy with the juices during this time if you like using the same gravy steps as I did above). Peel the skin off and start cutting away at your chicken. My husband and I loved this chicken so much that this was all we ate for dinner one night. We just stood around the stove picking apart the chicken, dipping the pieces in the juices. Mmm. I think I'm going to make this again tomorrow!