roast chicken

—allyzay on April 20th, 2009
in
chicken_baby_large

Summary

Yield
Source

martha goddamn stewart

Prep Time2 hours
Kind of Dishmain dishes
Tagssimple

Description

this is the chicken you should use in the enchiladas but of course it is for any time, not just mexican food time

Ingredients

  • 1 small (4-6 lb) chicken
  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • kosher salt
  • black pepper
  • 2 medium onions, sliced into 1/2 thick slices
  • 1 Lemon
  • 3 clv garlic, peeled
  • AROMATICS (suggestions below)

Instructions

let the chicken and the butter sit at room temperature about a half hour. meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425F. remove the giblets and the excess fat from the cavity if you need to (feel free to save the giblets for some other purpose if you're into it), rinse and then pat dry. sprinkle the cavity liberally with salt & pepper and set the chicken aside.

now, take a heavy-duty roasting dish and line the bottom with the onion slices. they will take up about 2-3 rows, touching each other. this is your platform for the chicken.

take the lemon, rub it a little to loosen the juices, and poke some holes in the skin. press the garlic cloves with the side of a knife to open them a little (don't completely crush!). shove the lemon, the garlic, and your aromatics into the chicken cavity. if you are a fancy person you can then tie the chicken legs together and truss it properly but honestly i never bother and haven't noticed any real issues.

spread the softened butter all over the surface of the chicken, and shove a little under the breast skin as well. sprinkle with salt, pepper, and other spices as appropriate (i often add paprika, and if i am using this for enchiladas i will add chili powder). place in the oven and roast. this will take an hour and a half approximately -- use your meat thermometer to check both the thigh and the breast.

let the chicken sit for AT LEAST 15 minutes before hacking into it, no matter how hungry you are.

at this point, if you are eating roast chicken and not using the chicken meat for another dish, you can take the pan juices and onions and make a gravy out of it. add a little chicken stock and maybe make a basic roux -- whatever you like.

Notes

the yield is approximate -- who can really say how many men one chicken can feed?

for aromatics, really you can do whatever works best for the overall meal. i wrote this to accompany the chicken enchiladas, so if you are using this for that purpose cilantro or fresh mexican oregano would work really well. the martha stewart classic is thyme. basil, rosemary, a mix of any of the above -- these all would work, use your common sense and you will not go wrong.

Comments

Submitted by allyzay on April 20th, 2009.

also:

http://www.howdidyoumakethat.com/content/main-dishes/my-favorite-roast-c...

this recipe would be good specifically with the enchiladas! really roast chicken is easy, do whatever you want to it.

Submitted by g00blar on April 22nd, 2009.

A 4-6lb chicken is not a small chicken!

Submitted by allyzay on April 22nd, 2009.

i just did a 3.5 or 4 lb bird last night and it was definitely not what one would call a "large chicken" by any means

Submitted by MartinBaker on November 7th, 2009.

Thanks for the tip to line the bottom of the cooking dish with onion slices. A 3.5 lb chicken would barely feed two people in our house, but we increase cooking time by using a halogen oven rather than conventional kitchen oven.