So, the last couple nights in Denver have been brutally cold and the one great comfort has been having a great meal ready for myself when I get home. It's been very busy with work and I have wanted to keep my own personal cooking simple, with little mess and even less clean up. Something I could make a few initial steps and then let finish with little attention payed from me.
I have heard of this recipe several times. I wasn't sure if it could be that easy, made with so few ingredients and yet be worthwhile. But I decided to give it a try.
I am not going to pretend that I wrote this recipe or created it on my own. I have seen it covered many time from many different sources. most notably Julia Child is famous for just such a recipe. The base recipe here is taken from Cooks Illustrated Magazine with just a few modifications from me.
1 large roasting chicken. 4-to-5 pounds.
1/4 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced white onion
1/4 cup diced carrot1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sprig fresh rosemary or thyme
6 to 8 cloves of garlic. Peeled and trimmed but left whole
1 bayleaf
salt and pepper
fresh lemon juice
In your dutch oven, add your olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Over medium heat bring the oil up to the point where it begins to smoke. Meanwhile, pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season the chicken well, inside and out with salt and pepper.
When the oil comes to temp, add your chicken, breast side down into the pan. Make sure your oil is well distributed on the bottom before you do. Otherwise there is a chance the skin of the chicken might stick to the bottom of the pan and pull away from the bird when you try to turn it. It also helps to really watch the heat for the same reason. While the chicken is searing, toss your diced vegetables thyme or rosemary into the pan. I used rosemary each time that I have made this. Next time I am going to try a few spring of thyme. Push them down around the sides of the chicken and let them start browning.
The original recipe called for about 8 minutes before turning the chicken over and browning the bottom. I found it took a bit longer. I also found a gentle hand, pressing down on the chicken helped it to keep better contact with the bottom of the pan helped improve the color of the chicken. So you need to judge this for yourself. But, if you go to turn your chicken over and you find that the skin is still sticking, give it a few more moments and eventually the skin will release itself from the bottom of the pan. It wont really affect the flavor of the dish. I made this recipe several times to test it and the flavor was just as good either way, but its a much nicer presentation if the skin is intact. But don't think the dish is ruined if the skin sticks to the bottom of the pan.
When the time comes, either wearing rubber gloves, or using a wooden spoon inserted into the cavity to help lift the chicken, pull the chicken out of the pan. Give the veggies in the pan a good stir to ensure even browning and keep them from burning and return the chicken to the pan. Back side down.
The dark meat needs to cook a bit longer than the breast meat. The recipe called for 8-10 minutes. This gives the dark meat a head start in cooking and ensure that when the breast meat has reached 165 degrees that its near 175-180 degrees which is perfect. Again I left the chicken a bit longer. But Its more likely due to the fact that my pan was not as hot as the original recipe called for. But the more moderate heat was perfect and the chicken browned without the skin sticking and burning.
The last steps are pretty easy. Take two layers of tin foil and cover the top of the dutch oven I did so in an "+" pattern. Then I closed the lid down over the pot to seal it well and trap in the moist air.
The dutch oven goes into a preheated oven set at 250 for 80-to-110 minutes. Till the Breast meat registers 165 and the thigh and dark meat is 170-ish
Take the chicken out of the pan. Carefully letting the juices trapped into the chicken drip back into the pan. Set the chicken aside. Tent it with foil to cover and keep warm. let the chicken rest 10 minutes or so. While you wait, strain the pan juices thru a fine mesh sieve. Pressing the vegetables to extract as much juice as possible. If you have a gravy strainer, it works best at this point if you add the recovered juices to it so that at time of service, you can separate the heavy layer of fat from the sauce. I have a gravy separator. But I couldn't find it. So I let the juices sit for a few moments and then used a ladle to skim the fat from the top. When you are ready to serve, add a touch of fresh lemon juice to the chicken Jus and readjust the seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper (if necessary) Carve your chicken and serve the Jus on the side. This was one of the best chicken dinner I have ever eaten. Its not about crisp, crunchy skin. The moist cooking method is no friend to crispy chicken skin and you might not even think that such a small amount of vegetables would be enough to have an impact on flavor, but it is. The meat is perfumed with the vegetables and the highly concentrated juices in the bottom of the pan are intensely rich in flavor. There are not enough juices to make a "gravy" but just enough to serve on the side. Gently poured over the chicken as a Jus. This is one of those perfect recipes. Short on complicated effort and yet incredibly flavorful and elegant. I hope you try it.
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