Nothing says “Don’t worry, I have my shit together” like whipping up a roast chicken. And I can tell you that today, I do not have my shit together.
Can you believe this election is this close? I personally woke up 3 times throughout the night to doom-scroll. Um…how are you doing??? I’ve accepted that we won’t know the results for days…weeks….months….ever? Wouldn’t expect anything differently from you, 2020.
To boot, we’re reopening our restaurant la Betty tonight after a 7 month COVID hiatus. No big deal. We’ve redone the whole menu to center around roast chicken. So let’s just say that chicken is on my mind lately.
Also, I highly suggest roasting a chicken as a stress cooking mechanism while we wait. Or at least to eat something yummy while you obsessively doom scroll on twitter and refresh your browser. For me, this dish always brings me back home. A simpler place. A dish just as rewarding to eat straight from bone by yourself in your kitchen or to impress your homies at a dinner party. To take a whole thing like that, add all the seasonings, and just be patient while it roasts in the oven for a few hours, and then pull it apart in nice juicy pieces - to me, is a mark of “damn, you really care about me.”
As the queen Julia Child so eloquently puts,
But my favorite remained the basic roast chicken. What a deceptively simple dish. I had come to believe that one can judge the quality of a cook by his or her roast chicken. Above all, it should taste like chicken: it should be so good that even a perfectly simple, buttery roast should be a delight.
We’re used to buying chicken in the pieces we exactly want. Thigh? Breast? Legs? Wings? Want it skinless? Want it boneless? You got it! It’s all right there in front of you at any grocery store.
But skip over all of those cellophane packed portions of meat, and you’ll see a whole bird there, waiting to be chosen. Why choose it? Because you get the best of all the cuts of meat and it comes out über flavorful when all cooked together. Just make sure you get GOOD chicken. Cheap grocery story chicken will just taste like kleenex. Invest in the free-range, organic, local (if you can!) Not only will your soul feel better, but trust me, it will taste better too.
But in all honesty, it’s really not that hard. Just takes you planning a bit ahead of time and hanging around while it roasts for a couple hours. There are so many varieties of an excellent roast chicken. But I love this one because it’s super simple, rich, flavorful, and fuels my love for butter.
I’m recently obsessing over brown butter. Brown butter is butter that has been cooked just long enough to toast the milk solids in the butter. All you gotta do is cook the butter in a saucepan just a lil’ bit past the melting point. The result is a magical nutty and sweet flavor. Something unlocked with me when I discovered brown butter - here is some actual live footage.
I’ve been throwing brown butter with chicken, fish, cakes, pies, cookies…tbh I’ve definitely had a spoonful or two straight out of the pot.
Try it over this roasted chicken and you’ll never be the same.
Ingredients:
2 - 2 1/2 lb organic free range chicken
1 stick Butter
6 sprigs of sage
1 head of garlic, each clove flattened with a knife
Kosher Salt and pepper, to taste
Paprika, to cover the bird, for a pretty color
Mushrooms, sliced, as an optional side dish
Leggoo!
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Make your brown butter. Take 1 stick of unsalted butter and melt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Swirl the pan frequently as you go. You’ll see it start to foam, and little caramelized bits forming at the bottom. Add 5 whole sprigs of sage. After about 2-3 mins, it will turn a rich dark brown and smell nutty and sweet. Cut the heat and put to the side.
Take your bird and rinse the cavity. Pat the inside and outside dry with a paper towel. Place on a baking sheet.
Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of kosher salt in the cavity.
Take your garlic and separate into the individual cloves. Flatten each clove with the side of your knife so it’s a bit smashed. Take one of the cloves and mince.
Toss the smashed garlic into the cavity. Reserve the minced garlic.
Toss 1 sprig of sage into the cavity.
Pour the sage brown butter all over the chicken, inside the cavity, and even rub underneath the skin.
Rub the outside with kosher salt, pepper, the minced garlic, and a little paprika (the paprika is really just for color).
Put a sprig of sage on over each back leg, for decoration.
Bake for 1.5 to 2 hr. Internal temperature should be 180-185 degrees (Ya, I don’t have a thermometer either, so I just cut the chicken through the shoulders, lift to drain, and if the last of the juices run clear yellow, the chicken is done.) Let rest on a carving board for 15 minutes.
Carve up your bird into the sections you like. Check out this video for a how-to!
But wait, you’re not done yet!
See all those juicy, buttery, fatty bits left on the baking sheet? Don’t you dare waste that! Grab some sliced mushrooms, and throw them and the leftover fatty butter in a sauté pan. Cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they're tender and lightly browned.
There you go!
I made some wild rice to go with. Check out the Sobremesa 06. all about how to make bomb ass rice!
Remember to breath. Check in on your friends. Smile at strangers. Make a roast chicken. Do what you have to do to keep your sanity during these incredibly stressful times.
If you’re in DC, come visit me at la Betty! She cooks a mean bird.
my great grandmother, in Columbus, Ohio in 1933
Happy cooking. Love ya mucho.
Tessa
Another great post !! Good luck and Congratulations on the reopening of La Betty.
chic chic chic!!!