Roasted chicken with gravy, roasted garlic, and broccoli (yes, roasted). Me like roasting.This was the wine of choice for this dinner, and I'm mentioning it because it was absolutely splendid! I pair food and wine so generally (meat = red wine, chicken = white), but a lot of the time I just go for any wine I'm in the mood for, regardless of the food. On this occasion the pairing was spot on and all flavors were enhanced to the point where it was really noticeable. In the future I plan on paying more attention to the food-wine pairing because I see what a difference it makes, even to unrefined palates such as ours.
Hahn Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling, $10 at The Wine Shop in Leesburg.
Perfect Roast Chickenrecipe from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten
1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs (I used rosemary instead this time)
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges (I didn't use fennel...)
Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top. Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.
Brine!
I brined my chicken, which I HIGHLY recommend. It makes the inside of the chicken meat taste very flavorful, which is especially important if, like me, you don't eat much of the skin. Wash your chicken completely inside and out with cold running water, removing and discarding the junk from the cavity. Place the chicken in a bucket or other large container that will fit the chicken and will fit in your fridge; I use the lid of my cake tupperware. Fill it with water and a cup of sugar and a cup of salt. You may also add lemons, peppercorns, herbs, all sorts of stuff, but the sugar and salt is the base and that's all I use on a normal day.
Brine the chicken overnight. When you're ready to roast, get organized because this can be a very messy process. Read the recipe again and lay out all your ingredients so that you won't have to wash your hands a million times before you get the bird in the oven. Don't for get to set aside your salt and pepper too! Dry the chicken very well with paper towels, place it in the roasting pan, then go ahead with the recipe. 
When you brush on the butter, it may look kinda weird and the first time I did this I was like "eww what is happening?!" As the melted butter is smeared on the cold chicken, it solidifies a bit making it look and feel funny. I may be the only one who's noticed this, I don't know, but I wanted to mention it :o)
OK now, if you have your oven on such a high temperature for that long of a time, you simply MUST roast some garlic for that meal or for the next day. All you have to do is cut the top 1/4 of a head of garlic off, place it on a piece of foil, spash on some olive oil, salt and pepper. Bunch up the foil into a tight bundle and throw it in the oven.
Cooking time or temp isn't very important; with the roasted chicken at 425 for 1.5 hours it comes out perfectly, so you can adjust from there according to whatever else you are cooking.You get this rich garlic smear for your chicken, bread, broccoli - everything on your plate no matter what it is pretty much. Count on one head of garlic for every 2-3 people (or if you're Erol, one per person). The flavor isn't pungent at all like raw garlic, it's roasty and toasty and mellow and delish.
Unwrap the top of the foil package, and squeeze from the bottom up and scrape the soft cloves of garlic that squirt out into a little dish. Or, unwrap the top, and then place it in the dish and let people squirt out what they want at the table.
5 comments:
ok-I think I can do this. Also, I wanted to let you know that I made the other chicken dinner again last night. Jim was SO excited and sang my praises as cook for the rest of the night! Go ME! :) Thanks for the great ideas! I will tell you how the roasting goes (probably won't do it til the end of the week)
It's interesting that you give the tip to lay out all the ingredients so you don't have to wash your hands. But I'm sure you're doing just that to take step by step pictures for all of us, readers. Thanks a bunch!
No, seriously I'm a total nerd in my kitchen. I cooked like this already, now I just document it :o) That's why it's so much fun for me!
my chicken is in the oven! Thanks for posting this. I will let you know how it turns out!
That chicken was SO good last night! Jim was really impressed...esp. when he cut into it and found the lemon, garlic, etc. Now we need a post on the perfect chicken soup recipe... :)
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