How is it that it’s January and here in Toronto we have no snow? And haven’t had any snow to speak of all winter? So weird. Not that I’m complaining – no snow makes my morning and evening commute so much less scary, I’ll totally take it. But I was hoping to go out snowboarding one of these weekends, so maybe it could snow just for that day…what do you think?
And you know what’s good after a long day of snowboarding? A super-easy, hearty meal that makes your house smell delicious would be just the thing! I love a good roast chicken – it’s one of our favourite meals. I’ve included my usual roast chicken recipe at the bottom because I know it by heart, but this one was equally as good and I love the built-in side dish of roasted potatoes and carrots. Add your favourite salad (or mine) to this, and it’s a lovely, fancy meal!
I was very excited about the armagnac sauce for this chicken – because as the French say, ‘la sauce, c’est tout!’ Unfortunately, during my internal debate on which enamel coated cast iron pot to use – the 5 qt oval or the 7 qt round – the smaller one lost out, which is where I think I went wrong at first. Then I decided to seal the lid with foil, but didn’t have enough to cover the entire pot, therefore not sealing the lid at all so I have a feeling that’s how my sauce evaporated. POOH. There was nothing but fat and charcoal at the bottom, although the potatoes and carrots were wonderfully flavourful and caramelized. I almost never get any sauce from my own roast chicken recipe, either, so I really feel this deserves another go so I can find out what I’ve been missing!
Check out French Fridays with Dorie to see how others made out with this recipe – this and other fantastic recipes can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s wonderful book Around My French Table.
Cheers,
Karla
THE BEST ROAST CHICKEN EVER – Lightly adapted from Lucy Waverman’s recipe via the Globe and Mail
Karla’s note: Last summer I tried a BBQ version on a cone-shaped rack, with small potatoes and a couple of peeled garlic cloves roasting alongside in the juices in an aluminum pan, all of which of course equaled yum!
- 4 pound chicken
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1-2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped OR 1 head of garlic, top chopped off
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Season chicken in cavity and on skin with salt and pepper.
- Drizzle skin with melted butter and fresh lemon juice.
- Place on rack in roasting pan, stuff cavity with half the lemon rind and the chopped garlic or the garlic head top.
- Add chicken stock to pan and place topless garlic head on the rack, if using.
- Roast 1 hour and 15 minutes or until chicken juices are clear.
- Place on carving board and let chicken rest for 10 minutes under tented foil before carving and serve.
- Serve roasted garlic alongside slices of baguette with the meal.
