Work is great, challenging, interesting, and I love it... except for one person, who shall remain nameless, whose negativity and passive aggressiveness can easily ruin my day, if I let it.
After an incredibly stressful day, I came home and I focused my energy on dinner. Namely, I roasted a chicken. Is it strange that roasting a chicken is as calming and satisfying to me as, say, a hot bath or a massage? Roasted chicken is easily one of my top 5 favorite things to make. I love how simple, how comforting, how rewarding a roasted chicken is to make! (And I greedily sock away all the carcasses to make stock later; I think I have 3 chicken carcasses in the freezer right now.)
Today was a perfect day for roasted chicken. I came home, kicked off my shoes, and poured myself a glass of Cabernet. Then I turned my attention to my plump little chicken: carefully washed and dried it, trussed it, salted it, set it in the cast iron skillet atop a layer of thinly sliced potatoes, and let it roast for an hour. Meanwhile, I sauteed sliced fennel, shitake mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic on high heat. A quick deglaze with vegetable stock and soy sauce added some extra flavor and color to the vegetables, which I then placed atop a bed of steamed quinoa and next to my beautiful, bronzed, crispy-skinned chicken. I felt better just looking at it! Just what a good roasted chicken should do for you.
Simplest (and I venture, best) roast chicken
from Thomas Keller, with a few minor modifications
For years, I used Marcella Hazan's famed roasted chicken recipe (you truss the bird, stuff 2 lemons in the cavity, roast breast-side down, flip, change the temperature, etc.) but then I discovered Thomas Keller's method, which boasts the least fuss, the crispiest skin, and the juiciest flesh of any chicken I've made.
The other great thing about roasted chicken is that it lends itself so well to almost any sides (or none at all). My French surrogate family served roasted chicken with spicy Dijon mustard, bread, and a salad; my friend Grace taught me to enjoy roasted chicken with steamed short grain rice and salty seaweed wrappers; Ina Garten roasts the chicken over a bed of potatoes, onions, fennel, and carrots. So many ways, all so very delicious.
2-3 pound bird, best quality
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Rinse the chicken and then dry it very thoroughly, inside and out. Keller notes that a damp chicken will steam, which you want to avoid for the sake of crispy and bronzed skin.
Salt and pepper the cavity. Using cooking twine, truss the bird to secure the wings and drumstick close to the body.
Next, salt the chicken very generously, using about 1 tablespoon of salt. Keller says: "I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin." Add a few grinds of freshly cracked black pepper.
Next, thinly slice a medium sized potato and arrange the slices in a single layer on the bottom of my cast iron skillet. The primary complaint Epicurious commenters have with Keller's chicken is that the chicken juices hitting a hot pan in a 450 degree oven creates a lot of smoke. The potatoes help to soak up the juice and to reduce the smoking that occurs.
Place the chicken on the potatoes and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. Thomas says: "I leave it alone—I don't baste it, I don't add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don't want. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board." (I love that he says, almost offhand, just roast it until it's done, implying that everyone should just know!) I like to use a thermometer and I take the chicken out at 160 or 165. (The FDA recommends 180, I believe, but I don't enjoy dried out chicken.)
4 comments:
I like roasted chicken, too--I used to make it all the time. I make it in a roasting pan, though, and I put tons of veggies under the rack. One of the things I like about putting veggies under the chicken is that not only do the drippings not smoke, but they also flavor the veggies. Yum.
Also, if you can roast a chicken, you can do a Thanksgiving turkey with no problem.
Oh, I just saw this!
In theory, I like the idea of roasting vegetables under the chicken, except that the vegetables always end up too... something. Chicken-y? I guess I just hate to cover up the taste of fennel or carrots or whatever with chicken fat.
And yes, I agree, roasting turkey is a cinch!
omg if you don't update more often I am liable to stop checking your blog. and I like your posts, so please keep updating. especially cause it inspires me and John to try new recipes!
jdog - okok, i will take your request into account. any special requests?
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