Everybody's Favorite: Roast Chicken

Roast chicken is definitely one of my favorite foods so I'd like to share my method of cooking it with you.  You can do this with any size bird, of course, but I like to use a big oven-stuffer so that I have leftovers.
                   

First, I spatchcock it.  All this means is you cut out the backbone and flatten the bird.  A pair of good poultry shears makes this job much easier.

 

Spread the bird out, skin side up and place in a roasting pan over a bed of sliced carrot, onion and celery.  Give the chicken a nice massage with some softened butter (about 2 tablespoons) then sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

 

I roast in a convection oven at 350 degrees but if you don't have convection, just crank the temperature up to 375.  It only takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to cook.  Baste once or twice.

Check with a thermometer it should read 165 degrees - if your chicken has one of those popup things, don't go by that.  If you wait to see it, your chicken will be overcooked.

Remove the chicken and place your roasting pan on the stove over a medium flame.

Deglaze the pan with about a quarter cup of white wine.  Stir up all the browned bits and let cook for a few minutes.  Add about a cup of chicken stock.  Homemade without salt is best but if you don't have that, use a low sodium canned stock.

Let this cook, stirring occasionally while you carve your chicken then strain.  Allow to sit for a minute or two then skim the fat off before serving.

A couple of tips:  If you don't have white wine on hand, white vermouth will do just fine and if you don't care to use wine that's OK too.

You may have more sauce that you need.  What I do is freeze the leftovers.  Next time I roast a chicken I use the frozen sauce (defrosted of course), set the roasting pan aside and make the sauce after dinner or even the next morning.  If you prefer a thicker gravy, just mash a tablespoon of butter together with a tablespoon of flour and stir that in a bit at a time.


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