So "me main man" Alex, who helped raise my chefing game, recently had us over for dinner and made the absolute best roast chicken that I've ever had. I tried to emulate his recipe the other night and unfortunately, it wasn't quite as good. Don't get me wrong, it was good -- but not the new "best ever".
The chicken you see here was dinner on Sunday, though I forgot to take a picture before we dug in! So it's not quite as good looking as it once was, but you get the idea.
Roasting chicken is good times, because again, it's easy and it looks cool. When you put that golden bird on the table surrounded by roasted veggies, it just looks badass. By now you;re probably sensing a theme here. Easy food that looks good is what I'm all about. I may get adventurous once in awhile and break out the Top Chef cookbook -- but for the most part, I keep it simple.
So, here's what you need:
1 whole chicken
4 slices of pancetta
4 slices of speck, if you can get it
6 large beets
2 large fennel bulbs
1 large bunch of rosemary
1 large bunch of thyme
1 lemon
salt, pepper and olive oil.
2 roasting pans
Side note -- make sure you get yourself a nice organic chicken. I've heard that smaller ones are more succulent, so you may try to stick to one that's about 4lbs. I think part of the reason Alex's chicken was better was that he had bought it fresh from the farmer's market that day -- it had been killed that morning. Talk about fresh!
Another side note - Speck. I was introduced to the beautiful meat by Alex a few months ago and since then I have been totally obsessed with it. "Speck is a distinctively juniper-flavored ham originally from Tyrol, a historical region that since 1918 partially lies in Austria and partially in Italy." And it's been around for at least 800 years. For those of you who live in LA, I get my speck at Guidi Marcello on 10th in Santa Monica. It's wonderfully smokey and gives an intense and distinct flavor when you cook with it.
First set your oven to 350. Then cut off the beet greens, put them in a plastic bag and put them back in the fridge for another day. A lot of people throw away beet greens, which is a big mistake. They're really tasty! Now, scrub your beets under cold water with a firm brush. When roasting, I don't recommend peeling them. They cook better with the skin on and that's where all the nutrients are so get a clean brush or one of those green scouring type pads (not a brillo!) and scrub your beets until they're nice, clean and crimson.
Now, break out your cutting board, sharpen up your knife and cut the beets into eighths. Put the beets into a mixing bowl, drizzle on some olive oil -- enough to evenly coat them. Add salt, pepper and mix with your hands. Then put the beets onto a cooking sheet and stick in the oven. Set your timer for 30mins. When it goes off, take your beats out and give them a stir with a wooden spoon, then put them back in for another 30 mins. They should take an hour, but keep an eye on them. They should be soft to a fork, but not totally shriveled up!
Next, quarter your fennel and put into your other roasting pan. Drizzle some olive oil over the top of the fennel. Then rinse your chicken under cold water and pat dry. Now, take your index finger and slide it underneath the skin that covers the breast of the chicken -- be careful not to tear the skin. Slowly work you finger under the skin to create some space -- a little pocket of room over the breast where you'll be able to stash some goodies to season it. Repeat on the other breast.
Now take a slice of your speck or pancetta and slide it under the skin and cover the breast. You don't have to be exact or anything, but do your best to have it evenly cover the breast. Put two slices of speck and two slices on pancetta under the skin on either side. This will do two things - 1. season your breast with beautiful flavor and 2. help keep the breast moist. Take a couple of rosemary sprigs and some of your thyme and sneak it under the skin too.
Now, take your knife and slice the skin between the leg and the chicken. Take 2 more slices of speck and two more pacetta, roll them up and stick them into the cuts you created on either side to season the leg and thigh. Put a couple more sprigs of rosemary and thyme in each cut as well.
Now, generously rub your bird with salt -- inside and out. Then take your remaining rosemary and thyme and stuff it into the cavity. Now take your lemon, slice in half, stuff it inside the cavity and give it a squeeze. Put both halves of the lemon in if you can. Now stitch the cavity up with cooking string or cooking pins, and tie the legs together.
Last, evenly rub olive oil over the outside of the whole bird and put into the roasting pan. Try to make a little bed for your chicken with the fennel - so the bird is right on top of it. This way, the jus from the chicken will drip right into the fennel.
Last, and this is optional, put 1 cup of white wine into the roasting pan. This will help to caramelize your fennel and give a nice aroma to the chicken. Put the roasting pan in the oven and cook your chicken about 15 minutes per lb - so a four pound bird should take an hour. I usually pull my chicken out twice to see how it's cooking and to baste it with the juices in the bottom of the pan.
If you have a meat thermometer, the temperature to serve the chicken should be about 165 when taken from the joint between the thigh and the body. And monitor the chicken every 15-20 minutes to make sure the bird is browning, but not burning. if towards the end your bird is not fully cooked, but you like the level of browning on the chicken, just cover it with foil and stick it back in.
After about an hour, your chicken and beets should be ready to come out. Loosely cover the chicken with foil and let it stand for 10 minutes. If you try and carve a hot bird, you will massacre it.
After letting it rest, carve and serve with the fennel and beets. Drizzle some jus over the chicken and fennel and you should be in business!
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