Pass it On: Week 1 Roasted Chicken

Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef (FYI, that's a lie, he's not naked, unfortunately) has recently invaded the US and is starting a Food Revolution. In the UK Jamie has helped rehab the school lunch program and he's bringing his talents to the States in an attempt to overhaul our (national) lunch programs. He's got a show on ABC (it airs Friday nights, check your local listings) called Food Revolution that shows exactly what he's attempting to do.

The show takes place in a small town in West Virginia in a town that's been identified as the "most unhealthy place in the world" based on CDC statistics. I've only seen the 1st episode of this program so far but it was very powerful. Poor Jamie, I don't think he really knew what he was getting into - this town has NOT welcomed him. In fact they are quite hostile towards him and his ideals. The saddest part of the show for me was when he brought a bunch of tomatoes into the lunch room and asked kids what they were. No kids could identify fresh tomatoes. One child got close, calling them potatoes. Close but no cigar.

In addition to rehabilitating the school lunch program Jamie has a "Pass it on" pledge: he will teach 4 people how to cook a dish. They in turn will teach 4 more people. Those 4 will teach 4 more, and so on. Megan at Tomato Tots had a brilliant idea, since so many of us bloggers are equally passionate about healthy foods, cooking and teaching others how to do the same, why not start our own Pass it On program? I LOVED the idea and I'm proud to be a part of this great plan.

Megan owns a few Jamie Oliver cookbooks and she's graciously agreed to host the Pass it On program by selecting one of Jamies recipes and showcasing it on her blog. Anyone who wants to play can then make the recipe with in a week of its posting and blog about it.

This week is our first week, and its a good one folks -- Roasted Chicken! I was tickled pink to see that the Roasted Chicken was this weeks recipe as I had a whole thawed bird in my fridge that I planned on cooking that night anyway! Woo hoo a new recipe to try out! And I got to teach my sister how to cook this meal, so I've already passed it on to 1 person. And now my loyal blog readers, I pass it on to you!

Roasted Chicken
adapted from Jamie Oliver
Makes 1 whole chicken, 8 pieces
1 whole roasting chicken about 3-4 lbs
1 lemon
1 bunch fresh herbs like rosemary & thyme (I used dried as that's all I had)
1 head garlic cut in half
3 stalks leeks (original recipe calls for 2 onions, however I had leeks that needed to be used up)
6 carrots (original calls for 2 but I have a carrot obsessed little Witch to feed)
2 stalks celery
Kosher salt & pepper
EVOO
FOR GRAVY:
1 c white wine
3 c water
3 T flour
S&P

Preheat oven to 475.

Cut the veggies into 3 inch long hunks, roughly. Put all the veggies into the bottom of a dutch oven.



Rinse chicken, remove giblets and discard (or use if that's your thing). You can truss your bird if you'd like. Sprinkle chicken with 2 teaspoons kosher salt on all sides, including cavity.



Prick the lemon all over with a fork and put it into the cavity of the bird. Add small fresh herb boquet into the cavity as well. If you're using dried herbs sprinkle them on top of the bird and throw a few inside too. Put the chicken on top of the cut up veggies, add 1/2 c water to the bottom of the pan. Drizzle the bird with EVOO.

Put the chicken into the oven and lower the heat to 400. DO NOT COVER. Allow chicken to roast for 1.5 to 2 hours (it took longer at my altitude, and I had to cover it at the end to bring it up to temp as the outside was nice & golden but it wasn't done...grr) adding a slash of water as needed to keep veg from burning.

Once chicken is cooked through (160 for the white meat, 180 for the dark) remove it from the pan, cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes before carving.



GRAVY
In the same pan that the chicken cooked in add 3 cups stock or water and 1 cup white wine. Remove any veggies you want to serve with the meal (in my case the extra carrots). With a potato masher, smash the cooked veggies to release their flavor into the gravy. Bring to a boil and allow to reduce by half. Once the gravy has reduced make a slurry out of the flour and about 1/2 c water. Add the flour slurry to the gravy and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute then remove from heat. Strain gravy thru a fine mesh strainer to remove the spent veg and any flour lumps, producing a smooth gravy.

Sorry there's no pictures of the gravy - we were too hungry to take more photos!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
8 Servings, 1 piece chicken and gravy each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 162.7
Total Fat 2.3 g
Saturated Fat 0.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Cholesterol 64.6 mg
Sodium 406.0 mg
Potassium 437.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 7.6 g
Dietary Fiber 1.6 g
Sugars 2.3 g
Protein 22.7 g