This dinner was in honor of my in-laws’ return from a trip to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Hey, you always have to have a reason to celebrate! In contrast to the previous family get-together in September, for which I procrastinated and ultimately missed our morning church service and a rehearsal, this one went pretty smoothly. I made two recipes from Cook’s Country, one of the shows in America’s Test Kitchen lineup, and I feel free to give the recipe for the chicken below because 1) I’m supplying my own pictures, and 2) I made some changes. They say that if you make three changes in a recipe it’s now yours, but they have to be fairly major changes. I don’t know that these are now mine, but I certainly have some advice to give. I had a friend in DC who said once, “Every time I make a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated [the magazine arm of the ATK empire], there’s always a point at which I say, ‘No way!’” That’s sort of what happens to me; there’s usually at least eye-rolling moment.
I had planned to have us sit down to dinner at 5:30, with the very, very latest time being 6:00, because THE BRONCOS WERE PLAYING AT 6:30. I wanted us to have a nice, relaxed time to eat our main meal before kickoff and then have dessert served at halftime. It didn’t exactly work like that, but we only missed about 10 minutes. (Of TV time, that is. Game time is an entirely different matter.) Things always take longer than you think they will. My dear mother-in-law Jan helped me out, but even with that we didn’t sit down until about 6:20. Since we ended up winning 42-17, it wasn’t as if every minute was packed with suspense, which I pretty much figured would be the case. Still, it would be nice to reach at least my secondary goal on these things.
The menu was green salad, whole-wheat rolls, herbed roast chicken with roasted carrots, potatoes, and pan sauce, and magic chocolate flan cake for dessert. (That last was a bit on the fussy side.) Here’s the chicken recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme I didn't have this but threw in some cilantro I did have.
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 4-6 pound whole chickens, giblets discarded I used two almost-6-pound birds instead. The smaller ones looked so dinky! Plus the bigger ones were only 99 cents a pound vs. $2.99 for the small ones.
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter chilled (But I didn't use this. The sauce is plenty rich without it.)
Instructions
Make herb paste:
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Process parsley, thyme, rosemary, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in food processor until paste forms. Reserve 1 teaspoon herb past for sauce. Combine 2 tablespoons herb paste with oil in small bowl. Set aside remaining herb paste for under skin.
Prepare chickens:
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Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. (But for my bigger chickens this was too hot; the outside would have burned before they were cooked all the way through. So I used 425 with the convection setting, which meant that it was really 400.) Pat chickens dry with paper towels. Rub remaining herb paste under skin of each chicken, making sure to coat breast, thigh, and leg meat. (Hah. Easier said than done. See picture, where you can tell that the herb paste is basically just over the breasts and thighs.) Rub herb-oil paste over outside of each chicken. Tuck wings behind back, and tie legs together with kitchen twine. (Which I didn't do. too fiddly!) Transfer chickens to platter. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
Roast chickens:
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Arrange chickens 2 inches apart, breast side down, on V-rack set inside large roasting pan. Roast until thigh meat registers 135 to 140 degrees, about 45 minutes. Remove chickens from oven and, using wad of paper towel, flip breast side up (meat that was facing inside should now be facing outside). Pour 1 cup water into roasting pan. Return chickens to oven and roast until thigh meat register 170 to 175 degrees, at least 45 minutes more for this size chicken. Transfer chickens to carving board and let rest 20 minutes.
Make sauce:
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Whisk cornstarch with remaining water in small bowl until no lumps remain. Pour pan juices and any accumulated chicken juices into liquid measuring cup; skim fat. Transfer 1/2 cup defatted pan juices to medium saucepan. (Why on earth would you only use 1/2 cup of the lovely pan juices? Just use all of it. But do be aware that these juices are going to be quite salty. Also, while you want the nice brown bits, you don't want those ugly scummy protein blobs, so skim those out while you're at it.) Add broth and wine and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened and reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 8 to 10 minutes. Whisk in cornstarch mixture and simmer until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk reserved herb paste (and the butter if you're using it). Taste to see if it needs salt or pepper; it almost certainly won't need salt. Carve chickens and serve, passing sauce at table.
