This week I made poulet rôti or roast chicken. There are a million recipes for roast chicken. I have tried most of them, and they are all great if you love roast chicken, which I very much do.
Julia Child's recipe for roast chicken suggests roasting the chicken with your favorite root vegetables. I decided to make my absolute favorite version of roast chicken, which is from Cooks Illustrated. I usually only make it once or so a year, because it's fussy. You cook the chicken and the vegetables separately, which allows you to cook them perfectly.
I started by brining a whole roaster chicken (3½ - 5 pounds) in two quarts of water with ½ cup of sugar and ½ cup of kosher salt for about an hour. Near the end of the hour, I preheated the oven to 450˚, and I placed a 12 inch cast iron skillet in the oven about 15 minutes before the chicken finished brining.
It's crucial to dry the chicken thoroughly before seasoning it liberally with olive oil and freshly ground pepper. Then I placed the chicken, breast side up, in the cast iron skillet and roasted it for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, I prepared carrots, parsnips, and Yukon gold potatoes. I cut them to similarly-sized chunks and spread them out evenly on a baking sheet. Then I wrapped the baking sheet tightly with foil. I then placed the sheet pan in the oven for 30 minutes, at the same time as the chicken.
After 30 minutes, I removed the vegetables from the oven, removed the foil, and set them aside. I placed the chicken back into the oven and roasted it until the breast meat reached an internal temperature of 160˚. It takes about 15 - 30 additional minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.
Once the chicken finishes cooking, I let it rest, uncovered on a carving board, for 20 minutes. It will stay hot, don't worry. Keeping it uncovered will help the skin to stay crispy. I then poured ¼ cup of water into the cast iron skillet and scraped up the brown bits. I strained the sauce and let it sit for 5 minutes and skimmed three tablespoons of fat off. I used the chicken fat to coat the vegetables on the sheet pan and reserve the sauce.
I then put the vegetables back into a 500˚ oven, tossing occasionally. Once nice and brown, I coated them with the reserved sauce and cooked for another five to ten minutes. The sauce gets nice and thick. When the vegetables cook in the oven, I carved the chicken.
As I mentioned, this recipe is a little fussy, but it's worth it. The vegetables are so flavorful, and the chicken is so moist. I served the chicken and vegetables with Parmesan Rice, but it would be a complete meal on its own. The chicken and vegetables are also great leftover.
Next week I'll be making a crispy parmesan chicken. Now, I know I said that roast chicken was my favorite meal, but crispy parmesan chicken might be my favorite weeknight meal.