Alas, the kids are still at sleep-away camp, but we did see them this weekend and I asked them what dinners they would be making for the the family when they got back. Max said his dinner would involve steak and crepes (I am not sure if he meant together…steak-filled crepes? or separately…steak and then dessert crepes. Alex said that her menu would focus on gruyere cheese because she missed it so much.) They asked me to post some of their favorite recipes, but this one is for Judy:
Really Really Good Roast Chicken:
(Max & Alex made this in March for us, served it with a green salad and mashed potatoes, and, of course, wine for the grown-ups.)
Ingredients:
1 four-six pound roasting chicken (six is better because the left overs are “really really good”
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced across 3/4 inch thick
3 cloves of garlic
1 lemon
1 Cup Chicken stock
fresh thyme if you have it (not essential, but nice)
What to do:
1. Wash hands.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove all the stuff in the chicken (giblets etc.). Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water. Let butter and the chicken stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Dry chicken (with paper towels).
3. Place sliced onions flat in a heavy-duty roasting pan in two rows (they serve as the “grill rack” for the chicken). Roll lemon on hard surface with your hand to soften and then pierce lemon all over with fork. With side of knife gently smash garlic cloves to open. Put garlic, lemon and thyme (4 sprigs if you have it) along with salt & pepper in cavity of chicken. Cut 2 feet of kitchen twine and tie chicken legs together. Place chicken in pan on top of onion slices.
4. Spread the softened butter over the whole surface of the chicken (if you don’t let the butter and chicken sit at room temperature for 1/2 hour, this won’t work…the butter won’t spread). WASH HANDS. Salt & pepper the chicken and put in the oven and roast until the skin is deep golden brown (about 1 and 1/4 hours for 4 pound chicken; 1 and 1/2 hours for 6 pound chicken, but it always depends on your oven). To check to see if the chicken is done, prick the chicken near the thigh, the juices should run clear, and if you have an meat thermometer, the temperature in the thigh should be 190 degrees.
5. Remove chicken from oven and transfer to a plate/cutting board. Let sit for 10 minutes. You can make gravy from the drippings if you want but this chicken is so juicy that you don’t need to. The onions are also delicious (but beware they have absorbed so much chicken fat that they are a meal in themselves.
