I thought I'd try a different roast chicken idea. The use of
the lemon zest as an internal rub is new to me.
Roast Lemon Chicken with Garlic & Herbs
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From Roast Chicken Made Better, Start to Finish Recipe by
Beth Dooley & Lucia Watson
If you don't have an open bottle of white wine to use for
deglazing the pan, just use some of the lemon juice that
gets squeezed over the chicken.
Serves four.
3- to 5-lb. roasting chicken
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened
Finely chopped zest of 1 lemon (reserve the lemon itself)
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
2/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
(or a mix of parsley and basil)
3/2 tsp. coarse salt
4/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 whole lemon (in addition to the zested lemon, above)
2 heads garlic, cut in half crosswise
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
For the sauce
5/4 cup dry white wine
About 3 1/2 cups homemade or low-salt
chicken stock
2 Tbs. heavy cream (optional)
Heat the oven to 450°F. Remove the packet of giblets from
the cavity of the chicken (and save for use in a stock if
you like -- but don't include the liver, which will make the
stock bitter). Pull any loose fat from around the opening.
Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper
towels. Rub the outside of the chicken with about 1 Tbs. of
the softened butter. Mix the remaining 2 Tbs. butter with
the chopped lemon zest and herbs. Rub the butter on the
inside of the cavity and under the breast skin (see Three
steps to great roast chicken). Sprinkle the inside and
outside of the bird with the salt and pepper. Pierce the
whole lemon with a sharp knife and put it in the cavity of
the chicken. Brush the garlic halves liberally with the
olive oil and reserve.
Put the chicken, breast side up, on a V-shaped rack (or a
flat rack) and set the rack in a roasting pan just larger
than the rack. Cut the zested lemon in half and squeeze both
halves over the chicken. Roast for 15 to 20
min., reduce the heat to 375°F, set the garlic halves in the
pan near the chicken, and continue roasting for about 45
min. more for a total of about 1 hour for a 3-lb.
chicken. For larger birds, add another 10 min. for each
additional pound. The chicken is done when the leg
wiggles freely in its joint and when the juices run
clear from the thigh when you [censored] it and from the
cavity when you tilt the bird. A thermometer inserted
into the lower meaty part of the thigh should register
170°F. Set the chicken on a warm platter, propping up
the hindquarters with an inverted saucer, and tent with
foil to keep it warm while you make the sauce. Remove
the rack from the pan.
Make the sauce from the pan drippings(see A double
reduction intensifies the sauce). . Carve the chicken and
serve the meat drizzled with some sauce and with the
roasted garlic on the side.
Three steps to great roast chicken
Slip your seasonings under the skin for full flavor and
moist meat. Rub the chicken all over with softened butter,
gently pushing the butter and other seasonings under the
skin without tearing it.
Fill the cavity with flavor: Season the bird inside and out
with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and stuff the
cavity with herbs, lemon, mushrooms -- whatever will enhance
the flavor of the meat and the sauce.
Lift the bird with a rack so the skin crisps all around.
A V-shaped rack is best, set in a heavy roasting pan
just larger than the rack, but a flat rack is better
than nothing.
A double reduction intensifies the sauce
Good drippings are the foundation for a good sauce. Tilt the
pan and spoon off as much fat as possible. Set the pan over
high heat to caramelize all the juices, but be careful not
to let them burn.
Wine provides backbone and stock gives body. Deglaze with
the wine, cognac, or sherry, scraping up all the drippings.
Boil until the liquid is just a syrupy glaze, add about 1-
1/2 cups of the stock, and boil it down to a sputtering,
bubbling glaze.
A second reduction adds layers of complex flavor. Repeat
with another 1-1/2 to 2 cups stock, boiling that down until
it's reduced to about 2/3 cup sauce. Add any herbs or cream,
taste, and adjust the seasoning.
--
Once during Prohibition I was forced to live for days on
nothing but food and water.
--------
FIELDS, W. C.