Sunday, January 29, 2012

Roasted Whole Chicken with Fingerling Potatoes

A chicken is a wonderful gift of nature, and no part of it needs to be wasted. It simultaneously provides high-quality, lean protein for a meal, a cherished treat for dogs and cats (the organs, cooked and chopped, added to pet food), and excellent, low-sodium chicken stock for other downstream uses. Here's our well-tested method for preparing crispy-skinned roast chicken that you can accomplish in about 90 minutes. It is very easy to execute and easy to teach.Remove the organs from the cavity, rinse and dry the bird with paper towels. Salt and pepper the inside of the cavity well. Cut a lemon in half and stuff both halves into the cavity. Rub olive oil into the skin all over; if you have time, loosen the skin over the meat and drizzle olive oil underneath the skin to help in crisping. Salt and pepper all over, and also season with onion powder. Place on a roasting rack inside a roasting pan and bake in a medium oven (350 F; 175 C) for about an hour, until the skin is nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool under a foil tent for 15-20 minutes.
While the bird is cooling, make some gravy from the pan drippings. Pour off some of the drippings, reserving a few tablespoons in the roasting pan. Heat the pan on the range top with a little flour, stirring until the flour mixture begins to brown. Add a cup or so (250-400 mL) of chicken stock and work to incorporate all the flour and browned bits into the gravy with a whisk. When the gravy is thickened, pour into a serving vessel.
To carve the bird, First cut the limbs off at the joints with a large and sharp knife. After a little practice at this you will remember exactly where the joints are like a surgeon. Remove the legs and the wings. Remove the thighs. Cut on either side of the pectoral bone and down underneath the breasts, removing them whole, one at a time, with the skin on. Now, for each breast, cut crosswise into four or five chunks, keeping the skin on. Now, the person carving always has his first choice of the choicest parts of the chicken, and they happen to be parts that most people wouldn't eat if they were served on a platter. These are the dark meat "medallions" on the back of the bird near the thighs as well as the whole tail. If you don't remove these they will certainly add a lot to your stock later.
We like to serve this with brown barley rice and roasted new or fingerling potatoes, which can be baked right along with the bird in a foil pouch or in a separate dish. Cut the potatoes into bite size pieces (no need to peel), drizzle with olive oil and season with Herbes de Provence. Add and remove them right along with the chicken; you can use the same oven.
After the chicken is carved, you can start a stock by immersing the carcass in cold water, adding a little of the trinity onion, carrot, and celery, and BTBRTS (bring to boil, reduce to simmer). If you have them handy, add some parsley, sage, bay leaves, and/or peppercorns to the liquid. Simmer until you're ready for bed, strain the stock and cool in the refrigerator overnight. This can be frozen if needed, but we usually use it right up in something else. This will be low in salt (but not zero; the bird was salted), so you'll likely have to adjust for salt in your downstream use.

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