Great Expectations Roast Chicken Recipes

THE BEST ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Mix butter, garlic, thyme, rosemary, lemon zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together in a bowl.
• Loosen skin on chicken breast; rub butter mixture between skin and breast meat. Press on the skin to distribute evenly. Rub oil, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper all over; place lemon halves inside cavity. Set in a baking pan.
• Roast in the preheated oven, basting after 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Let rest before carving, about 15 minutes.

PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
• Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

GARLIC ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• As soon as you get the chicken home, salt it inside and out, wrap it and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
• When you are ready to cook the chicken, first preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Pat the outside of the chicken dry with paper towels. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken and stuff the cavity with the all the garlic and lemon. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place it in a roasting pan just large enough to hold it and the vegetables. Scatter the onion slices, carrots and potatoes around the chicken. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil. Place the vegetables back in the oven and continue cooking for an additional 15 minutes.
• When the vegetables are cooked, carve the chicken and place the slices on the platter surrounded by the vegetables. Drizzle some pan juices over the chicken and vegetables.

GREAT ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Boil enough water to fill half the bottom of a roasting pan.
• Wash and dry the chicken. Remove the first two joints of the wings, and discard. Stuff the inside of the chicken with thyme, rosemary, sage and two garlic halves.
• Rub lemon, salt and pepper all over the chicken. Rub with remaining garlic, and sprinkle heavily with paprika to coat completely. Place the chicken on a rack set on top of the roasting pan, and steam over boiling water in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, place chicken on a vertical roaster and cross legs to catch inside the bars of roaster (to act as a truss). Pour off water, and place chicken in pan.
• Reduce the oven to 360 degrees, and roast the chicken about 20 minutes longer, until juices from the breast run clear when cut with a knife. Remove from vertical roaster, and cut off legs at the joint where the thigh meets the body. Return legs to pan, and roast about 10 minutes longer, until juices run clear. Allow chicken to rest 10 minutes, then remove herbs from cavity. Remove skin. Cut off each breast in one piece, and slice 1/4 inch thick on a diagonal. To serve legs, remove skin, remove meat from bone and cut into bite-size pieces.

FANTASTIC ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven and an appropriately sized roasting pan to 425°F.
• Wash your chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.
• Using your fingers, part the breast skin from the breast meat. It's important to try to push your hand gently down the breast, being careful not to rip the skin.
• With a peeler (or a zester), remove and chop the fragrant yellow skin of the lemon, keeping the peeled lemon to one side.
• Then tear up your prosciutto (or whatever ham you choose to use) and add into a bowl with the lemon skin, garlic and thyme (I have done this in my food processor before to get the ham pieces small).
• Season with salt and pepper to taste, and then mix it all into the butter.
• Push this into the space you have made between the meat and the skin - rub and massage any that's left over in and around the bird.
• Slash the thigh meat to allow the heat to penetrate a little more, which makes it taste better.
• Cut the peeled lemon in half and push it into the cavity.
• Then put your chicken in the hot roasting pan and roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
• While the chicken is cooking, parboil the potatoes in salted water for 10 minutes and drain.
• Remove the chicken from the oven, by which time the tasty butter will have melted, flavored and cooked out of the chicken into the bottom of the pan, awaiting your potatoes.
• Normally I put a fork into the cavity of the chicken and lift it out of the tray for 20 seconds while I toss and coat the vegetables in the butter.
• Put the chicken back on top of the vegetables and cook for around 30-40 minutes.
• Leave to stand for 10 minutes.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine the first 7 ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Dip the mushrooms into the vinegar mixture; set mushrooms and vinegar mixture aside.
• Remove the giblets, and rinse chicken in cold water; pat dry. Place on a lightly greased rack in a shallow roasting pan. Insert meat thermometer into the breast of the chicken, making sure it does not touch bone. Gently pull the skin away from the chicken breast and legs. Rub some of the vinegar mixture into the chicken meat under the skin -- don't use it all, you will use it to baste the chicken later. Rub the skin with olive oil.
• Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 55 minutes, basting every 20 minutes with the vinegar mixture.
• After 55 minutes, add the reserved mushrooms to the pan; baste with any remaining vinegar mixture. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until the meat thermometer registers 170 degrees.