Back to school! And Tuesday Morning Coffee with Suz and Kim! As always, great to catch up with my minxes, sip some joe, and cackle and laugh my butt off. All good, baby, all good.I got around to roasting our chicken rather on the late side last night - John and I didn't eat until almost 10 pm! Woops. Worth the wait however, for buttery, crispy chicken, with killer pan juices. The classic Julia Child recipe, can't be beat. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)
Tonight, one of Nathan's favorites, a back-to-school special pork tenderloin on the grill, with
warm bread and olive tapenade spread. Definitely a Hellenic feel, although not nearly as fabulously as last week's Susie Birthday Dinner at It's Greek to Me. Just Suz, Kim, and me, on the patio, sharing spanikopita, eggplant spread, flaming kasseri cheese, gyro, Greek salad, and fries. A real, rockin' Greek birthday feast for my dearest Jewtheran friend. Opa, Suz! Woo hoo!Labels: it's greek to me, roasted chicken, Suz, tuesday morning coffee with suz and kim
posted by Stephanie @ 9:17 PM
4 Comments:
Hi Stephanie. I was looking for the chicken recipe, but don't see it. Where should I look?
Thanks Rosemarie Z
Opa indeed! Or how about, Oypa???
Here you go Rosemarie, sorry I'm so slow! See below...
Julia Child’s Perfect Roast Chicken
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Child, Bertholle & Beck
Serves 3-4
From the book: You can always judge the quality of a cook or a restaurant by roast chicken. While it does not require years of training to produce a juicy, brown, buttery, crisp-skinned, heavenly bird, it does entail such a greed for perfection that one is under compulsion to hover over the bird, listen to it, above all see that it is continually basted, and that it is done just to the proper turn.
A 4-lb. chicken will take approximately 1 hour 15 to 30 minutes to roast.
4-lb. whole roasting or frying chicken
salt
2 Tbsp. softened butter
small carrot, sliced
small onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. melted butter mixed with 1 Tbsp. oil (for basting)
½ Tbsp. shallot or green onion
1 c. brown chicken stock or canned chicken broth
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt, and smear in half the butter. Truss the chicken (tie the legs together). Dry it thoroughly with paper towels and rub the skin with the rest of the butter. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
Place the chicken breast side up in a shallow roasting pan, just large enough to hold the chicken. Strew the vegetables around it, and set it on a rack in the middle of the preheated oven. Allow the chicken to brown lightly for 20 minutes total: 10 minutes breast side up, turn the chicken on its left side for 10 minutes (baste thoroughly), then turn the chicken on its right side and reduce the heat to 350 degrees (baste thoroughly). Baste rapidly so the oven doesn’t cool off. Leave the chicken on its side, and baste every 8-10 minutes, using the fat in the roasting pan when the butter and oil are exhausted. Regulate oven heat so chicken is making cooking noises, but fat is not burning.
Halfway through estimated roasting time (about 45 minutes), lightly salt the chicken again and turn it on its other (left) side. Continue basting.
Fifteen minutes before end of estimated roasting time, salt lightly again and turn the chicken breast up. Continue basting.
Indications that the chicken is almost done are: the chicken is nicely browned, a sudden rain of splutters in the oven, a swelling of the breast and slight puff of the skin, the drumstick is tender when pressed and can be moved in its socket. To check further, prick the thickest part of the drumstick with a fork. Its juices should run clear yellow. As a final check, lift the chicken and drain the juices from its vent. If the last drops are clear yellow, the chicken is done. If not, roast another 5 minutes, and test again.
When done, discard trussing strings and set the chicken on a carving board. It should sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before being carved, so its juices will retreat back into the tissues.
Remove all but 2 Tbsp. of fat from the pan. Stir in the minced shallot or onion and cook slowly for 1 minute. Add the stock and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping up coagulated roasting juices with a wooden spoon and letting liquid reduce to about ½ cup. Strain if you like, then season with salt and pepper and serve from a bowl.
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