For some reason, I think people are intimidated by cooking the whole bird. I'm not sure why the whole bird got a bad rap and why boneless skinless chicken breast is all the rage. Don't get me wrong, bonless skinless breast has a place, but for my money, the whole chicken is where it's at. You can eat it for dinner the first night, save the rest of the meat for chicken salad or sandwhiches, and make a delicious homemade stock from the bones. Nothing is wasted.
I've got a GREAT method for cooking the whole bird that yields moist, juicy meat and crispy brown skin every time! For this method, I recommend that you use a bird no larger than 4 lbs, which coincidentally is about the size of the average organic supermarket chicken. Non-organic chickens may be upward of 7-8 lbs because they're pumped full of steroids and growth hormone (not to mention antibiotics:/). If you use a bird much larger than 4 lbs, the skin will burn before the chicken is thoroughly cooked. If 4 lbs is not enough to feed your family, by all means make two! Chicken never goes to waste, especially one as tasty as this.
Ingredients:
-1 whole organic chicken (3-4 lbs) (if the bird came with giblets, remove them and save them for stock or prepare the organ meats however you like them- whatever you do, do NOT throw them away..they're like gold:))
-1-2 tbsp coconut oil
-1 stick of unsalted, grass-fed butter (such as Kerrygold)
-2 onions. Quarter one. Slice the other into 1 inch pieces.
-2 lemons. Zest both of the lemons and then cut them in half.
-fresh thyme, about 20 sprigs (if using dried, about 1 tbsp). Strip the leaves off of half of the thyme sprigs. Leave the leaves on the other half of the thyme.
-3 cloves of garlic, smashed
-sea salt and pepper
-a combo of mixed root veggies. I used carrots, potatoes and onion
Directions:
-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
-Prepare your root vegetables. You can use whatever you like, just make sure they are all cut approximately the same size. Place them all in the bottom of your baking dish. Toss with coconut oil, salt and pepper. Squeeze one of the lemons over the veggies. The vegetables will serve as your roasting rack!
-Prepare your compound butter. Make sure your butter is room temp. This will make mixing easy. In a small bowl combine butter, lemon zest, and the thyme that has been removed from the stem.
-Season the bird LIBERALLY with sea salt and pepper, making sure to season the outside, the cavity and underneath the skin on the breast.
-Spread your compound butter all over the bird, making sure to get some underneath the skin on the breast.
-Stuff the cavity of the bird with the quartered onion, garlic cloves, remaining lemon halves and thyme sprigs. Place the chicken in the baking dish on top of the prepared veg.
-Tuck the wing tips underneath the bird so they don't burn. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine to help keep the ingredients inside the cavity.
-Roast UNcovered for 15 minutes per pound. So if your bird is 4 lbs, roast for 1 hour.
-This is the MOST IMPORTANT STEP. DO NOT skip it. This is where the magic happens people. When you remove the bird from the oven, loosely cover it with foil and let it REST and carry-over cook for at least 20 minutes, 30 is better. If you cut into the bird right now, a couple of things will happen. 1) It will be slightly undercooked-- no good for poultry. 2) Every bit of juice will run out of the bird and it will become dry--yuck. I know it's tempting to cut into right now because it looks so good, but fight the urge. It will be worth it! When it has properly rested, cut and serve with the roasted veggies! Enjoy!
*Please use organic ingredients when possible.
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