Monday, June 14, 2010

Roasted Chicken

I believe this makes the 3rd roasted chicken I've blogged about. There's a reason for that, they are simple and delicious!!!

This roasted chicken is Thomas Keller's recipe. I saw him make this bird on the Techniques episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain and it looked so incredible that my husband paused the show, looked at me and said

"Can you make that?"
"Yeah I can make that!"
"Then go do it woman! Do it!"

It took me a few weeks to get around to roasting the bird for the husband but I did. And boy oh boy, am I ever glad I did!! It was so easy to prepare - and cooked in less than an hour. Thomas Keller is a cooking god for a reason, after all, and Mr. French Laundry did not disappoint with this bird.

The preparation is easy for this bird: pat dry, truss and salt liberally. Roast in a 450 oven in a skillet and that's it my friends. The extreme heat of the oven liquefies the subcutaneous fat from the skin and literally deep fries itself. The skin is crispy and delicious. I am a Witch that will always pass up chicken skin, its pretty gross to me. But this chicken skin, well it was crispy, not flabby at all, golden browned and kissed with herbs. Total and complete witch craft.

Roasted Chicken
by Thomas Keller
serves 4
1 roasting chicken, 3-4 lbs
lots of kosher salt
few grinds of pepper
1-2 sprigs thyme

Wash chicken, removing giblets and neck. Pat chicken very dry with paper towels inside & out. You want this bird dry, the less it steams the better the result will be.

Truss the chicken. If you need instructions on how to truss let the Witch know.

Sprinkle the chicken with kosher salt liberally. I mean lots of it, like 1T worth. Sprinkle from high above the bird, it creates a better scatter pattern on the meat and you get better coverage. The salt is important in flavoring the chicken as well as the crispy skin so don't skimp! Cover all sides of chicken with salt, add salt & pepper to the cavity as well.

Put the chicken in a skillet and roast at 450 for 45-60 minutes, or until the dark meat temperature reads 180*F. Remove chicken from pan, sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves and allow to rest for 5-15 minutes before carving.



You can make a pan gravy from the drippings if you wish, simply bring the drippings to a boil and whisk well to loosen the fond from the bottom of the pan. Add 1/2 c chicken stock and allow to reduce. Add 1t lemon juice and 2T butter to the reduced sauce. Serve with the chicken.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 226.0
Total Fat 4.4 g
Saturated Fat 1.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.2 g
Cholesterol 129.2 mg
Sodium 145.4 mg
Potassium 478.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 0.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 0.0 g
Protein 43.6 g

21 comments:

Jessica said...

Your chicken looks beautiful!

Unknown said...

Chris demands things like that from me too!! LOL The chicken looks fabulous...again! Next time you can invite me for dinner.. mmmm!!!! :)

Sarah said...

Sounds great, Andrea. I never think to use the higher temperature for roast chicken.

Yenta Mary said...

Thank you for coming to visit me -- returning the follow ... :) A food blog -- my favorite, yay!!!

foodfloozie.blogspot.com

The Girly Tomboy said...

I love roasted chicken!

Funny story - I roasted my first chicken when I was 13. I had the temperature down, the herbs, the roasting pan. Only problem is that I lay the chicken on its side - like it was sleepy. I don't know why. I still remember my mom coming home and saying - "wow, smells delicious...but why is it on its side like that?"

The strange things we do when we're kids.

PS I got the Tweezers at Sephora - but I've also seen them at Ulta.

Stephen C said...

I have Keller's roasting recipe too. Haven't actually done it. A couple of questions: did the kosher salt stick to the dry bird? The final temperature sounds high to me. How did the breast meat turn out? It does look as if the skin on the breast is intact, which doubtless helped seal in moisture.

Heather said...

Is there anything better than roast chicken? Mmm...

Ashleigh said...

I'm all about these easy recipes now. Thanks Andrea!!

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

Stephen,
the breast meat was a touch overdone, but I blame myself. I got busy with kids in the last few minutes & let it go too long. But honestly with the pan sauce i made any dryness was eliminated. The high heat worried me as well, my oven did smoke some with all the fat that cooked out of the bird but it came out fab. The kosher salt stuck to the skin no problem and helped created a nice salty skin. So far this is my favorite roasted chicken recipe I've tried, true chicken flavor!

Cranberry Morning said...

Thanks for following! :-) Your recipes look delicious. I also like to cook without the notorious MSG, HFCS, and the many often hidden ingredients that make us feel sick!

Baking Addict said...

wow looks really delicious. I do like a good roast chicken :)

Ott, A. said...

Just stoppin' by from TTA to say hi and thanks for linking up to the party. I was really surprised to be the hostess today, I hope you found lots of new blogs and followers. Happy blogging!!!!

Kayla said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I am following back and i am already excited because this food looks so freaking awesome!

Velva said...

A simple roasted chicken is one of life's simple food pleasures.
I agree with you about the liberal use of salt especially using the Kosher salt.

Penny said...

this last thanksgiving was the first time I cooked a thanksgiving meal. The turkey wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I guess I could try a chicken... lol

Unknown said...

There's nothing better than a roast chicken. I'm heading to the farmers market in a few minutes and I'm hoping the chicken guy is there! Ina Garten has a great recipe too but this looks perfect! I need to get better at trussing the bird - I never get it right!

Lorraine said...

Awesome roast chicken recipe. I love making roast chicken because everyone likes it in my family and it is inexpensive. This recipe sounds great. I love the idea to cook the chicken on high heat. Will definitely put the ingredients for this on my shopping list this week:) Thanks!

Kasha said...

I am pretty excited to of met you through my blog so that I could discover your amazing recipes. It's funny I have just recently been roasting up a lot of chickens, but Thyme and Kosher salt seems so simple and tasty. Thanks for this recipe and so great to get to know you and your lovely blog!

Laurie {Simply Scratch} said...

looks really delicious.. Ill have to try this!

Katy Stuhr said...

I thought Ina made a killer chicken...but this is the BEST roast chicken I've ever made. It's so juicy!!! And the skin is to die for. Oh man. I'm hooked on chicken skin now.

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