Butter Roasted Chicken Elbows with Spinach

What I really wanted today was “baby beef” liver or boudin noir or veal sweetbreads or lamb kidneys, of which I had none. Les abats or offal are tricky things and I’m “offaly” selective when it comes to freshness and source.

What I did have was a big bag of frozen chicken elbows. There’s no telling when I bought them but they did come from Super Duper. The elbows were huge, not from any spring chickens but probably from old, worn out, granny layers. I resolved immediately to roast them longer than usual ;)

I made a quick stir fry of shallots, baby spinach and “lose” mushrooms from the Chinese store in New Jersey. I’ve never heard of lose mushrooms before but they resembled portobellos with dark, wide striations on the cap. I refuse to think of this as a misspelling of “loose” but to assume that the mushrooms are a rare, exotic variety of Asian, voodoo fungi.

In the event that an iron deficient vegetarian stops by and decides to sample the spinach recipe, I sprinkled some of Frugal’s pumpkin seeds on top for a protein boost because I care ❤

And here’s the omnivore plate, because I care more :D

Butter Roasted Chicken Elbows

2 – 2 1/2 lbs large chicken elbows, pointy thing removed

Choice of your favorite chicken rub ( I used our neighbor Caroline’s Smoked Spanish: cumin, paprika, dry mustard, fennel, black pepper and salt)

1 large knob of butter

Season the elbows with the rub. Melt the butter in a roasting pan, then add the elbows, skin side down, and roast in a 400 F oven for 30 minutes. Turn the elbows skin side up and continue to roast for another 30 minutes.