I have made this a few times recently because I keep craving gravy and mashed potatoes and naturally a roasted chicken just goes with things like that. They really are simple to make, you just have to plan ahead because it does take a couple hours.
This particular recipe comes out juicy and moist with nice, crispy skin – for those of you who like it – personally I detest skin and fat of any kind. It doesn’t matter how crispy it is. I refuse. But there are others in my household (like everyone else) who love it. So I kindly make it for them.
I really love brining chicken and turkeys but this recipe takes into account not having time for such things. Meaning: I usually forget that I was planning on brining the chicken and the last recipe left on my menu for the week is: the brined chicken. However it is now 3pm and there is no time for brining but I have nothing else as an option for dinner. So this is a wonderful alternative that gets very similar results and we don’t have to wait until ten o’clock at night to eat it.
I will warn you though that it does get fairly smokey in the house. I have never managed to roast a chicken without my house getting all smokey and I have no idea why. I have tried countless recipes and it happens with every single one. Unless perhaps you have a better ventilation system than I do, then maybe you won’t have a problem. But be prepared to open some windows.
It’s worth it.
Trust me.
Ingredients
1 whole roaster chicken, about 5-7 pounds
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1/2 large yellow onion, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
3-4 tablespoons soft butter for basting
FOR THE GRAVY
1/2 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preparation Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400˚.
2. Remove the chicken from the packaging and pull out the yucky stuff (neck, liver etc.). I usually just toss it but if you like chicken livers, save them, by all means. I know they are very good for you, but I can’t stand the taste of them so you won’t find any recipes for them here. The neck of course comes in handy for soup, so you CAN pop into a freezer bag and save it.
3. Rinse chicken and pat dry.
4. Sprinkle the cavity with kosher salt and pepper. Then, this is the part that makes it taste like a brined bird, you are going to run your hands under the skin on the breast side and separate it from the meat, all the way down. Once the skin is separated, but still attached to the bird, get a small handful of kosher salt, about two teaspoons per breast and smear it all over the meat, under the skin.
5. Next stuff the cavity with lemon wedges, onion wedges and garlic. Just cram as much in there as you can and then truss the legs with kitchen twine, just so they keep all the stuff in the cavity. I don’t get fancy with the trussing for this, I pretty much just cross the legs and tie them. No big deal.
6. Place on in a roasting pan, just about anything with a rim will work, so long as you can put a wire rack in to keep the bird out of the juices. Lately I have been to lazy to get my big roasting pan down from the top of the cupboard so I have just been using a rimmed baking sheet with a wire rack in it and it works great.
7. Using a pastry brush, baste the bird with a good layer of soft butter.
8. Place it in the oven, basting about every 20-25 minutes with more of the soft butter, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast registers about 178˚ degrees. Martha Stewart recommends 180˚, but I feel like the breast is just a touch dry at 180˚ so I remove it from the oven once it is comfortably past 175˚. Mine usually take close to two hours to get up to temperature, if you are not at high altitude you can likely count on a little less time. I would guess maybe an hour and a half.
9. If you want to make a simple gravy from the pan juices, move the chicken to a cutting board or serving platter and allow to rest while you make the gravy. Pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a saucepan or fry pan over medium heat.
10. Toss in the flour and stir until it turns to a thick paste.
11. To have a nice smooth gravy you must add the liquid slowly, stirring the whole time. So start with about a 1/4 cup chicken stock and pour that into the pan with the flour mixture, stirring as you go. Once it is smooth add another 1/4 cup and again, stir until smooth, repeat until all the stock has been added or you get the consistency you desire. If you need more than 2 cups stock, by all means, add more, likewise, if you get the consistency you want before all the stock has been added, then stop. Add a little salt and pepper and you’re good to go.
12. To serve you can carve the chicken ahead of time and place it on a platter or just put the whole thing on the table and let everyone dig in.
Enjoy!
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