This is the most forgiving of dinners, perfect for Sunday evening. Rather than time the vegetable cooking time individually as one usually would, this is the time to just bung everything together in the roasting pan under the chicken and take one's chances! The carrots and potatoes will be fork tender, the onions nicely caramelized, some veggies will be plump with pan juices, and be meltingly delicious, and a few will disappear into the sauce adding flavor and texture. This is also a good fridge clean-out dish because I do cheat and add whatever vegetables I would like to go to this dish as well as the root vegetables planned (in today's case a couple of zucchini and a red pepper.)
I stuffed the chicken and included the recipe below but, when it came time to eat, I really only wanted the vegetables and the pan juices...I tried the chicken breast just to taste it for flavor and my 17-year old locust took care of the rest. Let's just say I won't need to strip the carcass much before making stock.
Any leftover chicken will be delicious in salads or sandwiches the next day -- and, of course, there is stock to be made with the bones. The leftover vegetables can be pureed with some stock to make an excellent soup for lunch, or added to a grilled cheese sandwich.
Not a bad result for a preheated oven and about ten minutes of scut work...
1 organic roaster chicken, about 3 1/2 lbs
8 cups assorted root vegetables
4 cups day old bread, cubed
1/2 onion, diced
1 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsps of butter + 1 Tbsps butter
1 Tbsp chopped sage
Salt and white pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 375.
Melt two tablespoons of the butter in a skillet. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until starting to turn translucent, a couple of minutes. Salt well, add white pepper liberally, and stir in half of the sage.
Pour this mixture over the bread cubes and add half of the chicken stock. Stir well to combine and set aside.
Prepare your vegetables by peeling those that need to be peeled and cutting all of them into bite-sized pieces as close in size as possible. Play these all in a roasting pan. Salt well, sprinkle with the remaining sage, and drizzle with the remaining stock.
Stuff the chicken with the bread mixture and place it breast side up on top of the vegetables. Rub the surface of the chicken with the remaining butter and salt and pepper well.
Place in the oven and roast for an hour and a half to an hour and forty five minutes, until the internal temperature is 165F. I used to use the "when the juices run clear" test but that seems to have been debunked by science. I like to stir up the vegetables at the half way mark to ensure that they all have access to the Maillard effect.
Remove from the oven and tent with foil for 10 minutes to rest before serving.
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