“Kulanu M'subin" Chicken (Seder recipe with a moral)

Ah, I knew I’d posted this somewhere.

“KULANU M’SUBIN” CHICKEN

This combination of my mother’s tzimmis recipe and a chicken recipe by one of my best friends is ideal for a Seder because you can leave it in the oven practically forever without paying any attention to it, and participate fully in the Seder knowing that this dish won't burn, dry out or overcook. Make twice this amount if you're having more than four people.

The moral of this recipe is that, since all of us were freed from slavery on Pesach, none of us should be a “galley slave” at a Seder. As the rabbis said, “Halaila hazeh, kulanu m’subin—On this night, we all recline.” So get out of the kitchen and take your rightful place, a seat at the Seder table.

1) 1 raw chicken, kashered, cut into eighths (or at least 8 kashered chicken cutlets)

2) 1 pound of raw carrots, scrubbed but not peeled (save those vitamins!), cut into chunks or slices (slices are traditional for Rosh HaShanah, as they symbolize the kesef one hopes to earn in the new year, so, for Rosh HaShanah, cut at least some of the carrots into slices)

3) 1-2 raw sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut at least in half lengthwise, then into chunks

4) pineapple (unless someone’s allergic), preferably chunked, canned in unsweetened pineapple juice 1 can per chicken is better (at least 1/2 can) with 1 can (at least 1/2 can) of the aforementioned juice. Extra pineapple will be needed for the juice if you can’t use orange juice. If using sliced pineapple, cut it into chunks.

5) 1 cup orange juice per chicken, unless that’s a problem for anyone’s stomach, in which case you may need to open more pineapple just to add another full cup of pineapple juice

6) 1-3 WHOLE raw apples, scrubbed Apples with the skin still on make very tasty baked apples, & they’re also the only kind that will stay whole, since cut apples tend to fall apart and become applesauce in the stewing process (or whatever kind of process you wish to call this).

7) cinnamon

8) (optional‑‑seedless citrus fruit, peeled and sectioned.) (My girlfriend uses canned sweetened mandarin oranges, which have the advantage of being seedless, pre-peeled & sectioned, but the disadvantage of being packed in sugar syrup. However, if anyone at the Seder is allergic to pineapple, this is a good alternative, if the sugar isn’t a problem.)

Remove apple cores. Place apples in corners of pan. Stuff the emptied cores with pineapple chunks (perhaps cut or broken into smaller pieces), then sprinkle the apples (and their pineapple stuffing) with cinnamon.

Place well-cleaned chicken pieces or cutlets in bottom of roasting pan.Arrange potatoes and carrots around and/or on top of chicken.Place pineapple chunks (and/or citrus sections) on top of chicken pieces. Pour orange and/or pineapple juices over contents of pan. Sprinkle cinnamon on contents of pan.

Cover roasting pan with aluminum foil—the foil cover and the quart or so of juice in the pan are the secrets to keeping this dish from overcooking. "Roast" (stew?) for 1 ½ hours minimum at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. For a Seder, unless you're NOT running "Jewish time", roast/stew this for approximately 2 hours at 300 degrees, then turn it down to 200 until you get to "shulchan orech", the meal.