Classic Roast Chicken With Pan Sauce Food

ROASTED CHICKEN WITH PAN SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place the potatoes, carrots, parsnip and shallot in a roasting pan. Drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and swirl to coat.
• If there are giblets in the chicken, discard them. Place the lemon slices, garlic, thyme and a drizzle of olive oil inside the cavity. Tie the drumsticks together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings under. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Rub the skin all over with 3 tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the chicken breast-side up on top of the vegetables and pour 1 cup of the chicken broth into the roasting pan.
• Place the chicken in the center rack of the oven and bake until the skin is golden brown and the juices run clear when pierced, 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes. At around 40 minutes of cooking, add another cup of chicken stock to the roasting pan to keep the vegetables from burning. A meat thermometer should read 165 degrees F when inserted between the leg and the breast. Remove the vegetables from the pan to a platter and transfer the chicken to a cutting board and tent with foil to rest at about 20 minutes before carving.
• Place the roasting pan over medium-high heat and add the wine and cook for about a minute, stirring with an angled wooden spoon to release the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Once it reaches a simmer, add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the flour and whisk to combine, cooking for about 30 seconds. Add the remaining 2 cups chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time, and bring to a boil. Then simmer until the pan sauce has thickened slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and the juice from the lemon half. Carefully strain the sauce into a serving bowl.
• Carve the chicken, transfer to the platter with the vegetables and garnish with the thyme leaves and the remaining lemon half, cut into wedges. Serve with the pan sauce.

PAN SAUCE FOR ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• After preparing Roast Chicken, remove rack from roasting pan, leaving necks in pan; place pan on stove (it may need to be set across two burners) over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until necks and chicken bits remaining in pan are deep brown, 3 to 4 minutes; spoon off and discard all but 1/4 cup of the fat.
• Add 1 cup dry white wine, and boil until reduced by half, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, 4 to 6 minutes. Carefully pour contents of pan through a fine-mesh sieve into a small saucepan; add any juices that have accumulated on platter from resting chickens.
• Remove pan from heat; add 1 tablespoon cold butter, and swirl pan just until butter has melted and sauce has thickened. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper; serve with roast chickens. (If necessary, reheat sauce but do not boil.)

CLASSIC ROAST CHICKEN & GRAVY

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Have a shelf ready in the middle of the oven without any shelves above it.
• Scatter 1 roughly chopped onion and 2 roughly chopped carrots over the base of a roasting tin that fits the whole 1 ½ kg chicken, but doesn't swamp it.
• Season the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, then stuff with 2 lemon halves and a small bunch of thyme, if using.
• Sit the chicken on the vegetables, smother the breast and legs all over with 25g softened butter, then season the outside with salt and pepper.
• Place in the oven and leave, undisturbed, for 1 hr 20 mins - this will give you a perfectly roasted chicken. To check, pierce the thigh with a skewer and the juices should run clear.
• Carefully remove the tin from the oven and, using a pair of tongs, lift the chicken to a dish or board to rest for 15-20 mins. As you lift the dish, let any juices from the chicken pour out of the cavity into the roasting tin.
• While the chicken is resting, make the gravy. Place the roasting tin over a low flame, then stir in 1 tbsp flour and sizzle until you have a light brown, sandy paste.
• Gradually pour in 250ml chicken stock, stirring all the time, until you have a thickened sauce.
• Simmer for 2 mins, using a wooden spoon to stir, scraping any sticky bits from the tin.
• Strain the gravy into a small saucepan, then simmer and season to taste. When you carve the bird, add any extra juices to the gravy.