Baked Farm Chicken

I got this chicken from a small scale, honest goodness, hobby farm.  Farmer Tom is an easy going, laid back hobby farmer, who loves to show you around his farm and tell you about how everything works.  His farm is where I get my eggs at $2.50/dozen.  He doesn't advertise, and I wish I lived closer to his farm.

This chicken was delicious.  I think the last time I had good chicken, other than two weeks ago at The Prune in Stratford (which uses local ingredients), was when I was a kid back in Poland, and we grew our own chickens among other edibles.  BTW, I never order chicken in restaurants, the reason I had it at The Prune was because it was part of the fixed menu.

I made it simply.  Cut up a carrot, used one leek (from the farm), a few bay leafs, and sprinkled a mixture of French inspired herbs: savory, thyme, basil, fennel, lavender (very small amount), some s&p.

I started cutting before remembering to take a photo, as it happens often.

This is the chicken neck.  It's hard to look proper when eating bony parts, but who cares, the neck is one of the best parts.  Any meat closest to bones is tastiest.  I mention that all the time.

This chicken (about $15) was enough for six proper meals, and I got about 50 ml of chicken fat.  I wouldn't advise rendering chicken fat from store bought poultry.  Fat contains a lot of toxins, and chances are store bought poultry has no shortage of toxins.

I can't wait to use this.  I wish I had more.  I'll have to decide what I will use it for, maybe a crust for a savoury tart, or to fry up chicken livers.  Mmmm, I'm salivating.