When I bought Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cookbook, I made a vow to "pass on" at least one recipe from each chapter of the book. He kinda makes you sign a promise to do so in the front of the book. He's on a mission to get people cooking at home from scratch again. Most of the recipes are of typical weeknight foods: chili, stir-frys, fajitas, stews. All are simple. This is the third recipe I have made from the cookbook and all I can say is "wowza!"
Roast chicken is awesome for many reasons: It's cheap, makes a lot of meals, is simple to make, and the big one: my kids will eat it! It's a classic dish that I suspect anyone would eat. But if you can take this simple bird and take it from good to divine (and still get your kids to eat it) I'd say it deserves a try.
The most important thing about this dish is what I'm going to tell you right now: make what Jamie calls a "vegetable trivet". All this means is, wash a few carrots, a few stalks of celery, and an onion or two and throw it in the bottom of your roaster with some garlic cloves. You don't even have to peel the veggies (not even the onions!). Drizzle some oil over the veggies.
Next, you are going to rinse your chicken, take out the guts which are most likely in a bag, and set it right on top of the veggie trivet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little oil. Take a lemon and pierce it with a knife all over. Stuff it in the chicken's cavity and add some fresh herbs. I used rosemary. Delish.
I covered the bird with foil and baked it at 400. Uncover to brown the skin after 2 hours or so. The pop-up timer on my chicken may have been defective because it never popped. I baked a 7.5 lb bird for about 3 hours and just couldn't stand waiting anymore. It smelled so good and everything else was ready. So we may have eaten undercooked chicken, but it sure tasted good.
Anyhow, about 20 minutes before the bird is done, or when you take the foil off to let it brown, scoop those yummy roasted vegetables in the trivet out and put them in a saucepan. Take out all the drippings so far and add them too. Place the saucepan over medium heat and add enough chicken broth or water to cover the veggies. Bring the mixture to a boil and carefully mash the veggies as they cook. It will be lumpy- no big deal. Cook for about 10 minutes. I added a splash of balsamic vinegar while it cooked. The mixture was a gorgeous brown color. When done simmering the sauce, pour into a course sieve over a bowl. Use the masher to press the veggies to extract as much broth as you can. DON'T chuck those veggies. Return only the broth to the pan.
Add some more chicken broth or water to the pan (up to a quart total). Bring back to a simmer. Mix 2 TBSP corn starch with 1/4 cup cold water and add to the broth mixture. Reduce heat and stir. It should thicken up into a lovely gravy. Season with salt and pepper. This gravy is wonderful! Complex from the roasted veggies, vinegar, and chicken drippings!
Hubby's leftovers to take to work- that gravy is gorgeous!
I have always cooked my roasters in an oven bag so I was afraid I was going to end up with a dry chicken. Not at all! This dish was simply delicious! There were quite a few dirty dishes to hate afterward, but everything else was to love!
I added the leftover veggies from the trivet to the chicken stock I prepared with the bones and leftover meat. Can't wait to try that in some homemade soup!
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