Roast This!

One of my absolute favorite foods is roasted chicken.  This time last year, I wrote a post called Perfect Roast Chicken.  Today's recipe is very similar.  The only difference is that I took the extra time to make a brine to marinate the chicken.  This packs the chicken with even more flavor, and keeps the chicken extra moist (especially when you're cooking it with the idea that it will be reheated).

Briny Roasted Chicken

For the Brine:

• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 4 cups water
• 1Tb cloves
• 1Tb cracked pepper
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder

For the Chicken:

• 1 approx. 3 1/2 lb roasting chicken
• 1 lemon
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 large onion
• 1 small bunch of rosemary, thyme, and/or sage
• 1 bulb garlic
• Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

To make the brine:

• In a large soup pot, combine the water and all of the ingredients.
• Bring to a boil.
• Simmer for ten minutes.
• Take off the heat.
• When room tempurature, place the chicken in the brine.  You can brine it for 20 minutes to 1 hour.

To prep your chicken:

• Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.
• There's no need to peel the vegetables- just give them a wash and roughly chop them.
• Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.
• Pile all the vegetables and garlic into the middle of the large roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. (The chicken roasts on top of the vegetables.)
• Take the chicken out of the brine.
• Dab it dry with a paper towel.
• Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the bird.
• Carefully prick the lemon all over, using th tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in there for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavor).
• Put the lemon inside the chicken's cavity, with the bunch of herbs.

To cook your chicken:

• Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting pan and put it into the preheated oven.
• Turn the heat down immediately to 400 degrees fahrenheit and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
• Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the vegetables look dry, add a splash of water to the pan to stop them from burning. (Be careful, this may cause the pan to steam up at your face if you're too close to it.)
• When cooked, take the pan out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so.

To carve your chicken:

• Remove any string from the chicken and take off the wings.
• Cut through the joint and pull the leg off.
• Repeat on the other side, then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick so you end up with four portions of dark meat.
• Place these on a serving platter.
• You should now have a clear space to carve the rest of your chicken.
• Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then the other.
• When you get down to the fussy bits, just use your fingers to pull all the meat off, and turn the chicken over to get all the tasty, juicy bits from underneat. You should be left with a stripped carcass, and a platter full of lovely meat and roasted veggies.

I know that this seems like a labor intensive recipe, but the truth is that the brining really is worth it.  We ate this chicken for four days, and ate it in a different way each time.

The first evening, I made the chicken with the potatoes and carrots.  The second evening, I mixed it with the lentils, chunky tomatoes and beans that I'd had ready in the freezer.  The third day, I made it for lunch.  I shredded some chicken, cut up some tomatoes, and shredded some lettuce and put it in a wrap with some swiss cheese.  On the fourth day, I had it with leftover mashed potatoes from the bangers and mash I'd made for breakfast.

The chicken never got dry, tasted great cold or hot, and froze easily.  Try it!