French Roast Chicken With Lemon Food

POULET ROTI (ROAST CHICKEN FRENCH-STYLE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F. If you're going to add the herbs on top: remove the leaves from the thyme, rosemary and sage. Use a sharp knife to mince these herbs into fine pieces. Use your knife to mince the garlic clove as well before combining the minced garlic and minced herbs together. Temporarily set aside next to your cut up lemon quarters. If you're using whole herbs, simple preheat your oven and skip the rest of this step.
• Rinse and remove any giblets from the inside of the chicken. Thoroughly pat dry the chicken using paper towels.
• Drizzle olive oil over (or melted butter) over the chicken, using your hand to rub the oil all over the surface of the chicken (including its wings and legs). Flip the chicken over and repeat on the backside.
• Sprinkle 3/4 salt tsp all over the breast side of the chicken, including its wings and legs. Then sprinkle 1/4 tsp salt into the inside cavity of the chicken, before flipping the chicken over and sprinkling another 1/2 tsp of salt all over the backside of the chicken.
• Grind some fresh ground pepper over the backside of the chicken, then flip it over and grind some pepper over the breast side.
• Gently stuff the inside cavity of the chicken with the lemon quarters. If using minced herbs, cover the breast side (including legs and wings) of the chicken with the herb/garlic mixture. If using whole herbs, simply place the herbs and garlic clove in the inside cavity of the chicken as well. If you're stuffing the chicken with herbs, you can use twine to tie the chicken legs together to keep the cavity shut (optional).
• Grab a 9" by 11" baking dish and slightly grease the bottom of the dish with some oil or butter. Place the chicken into the dish (breast-side facing up), and place in the oven to bake.
• Bake the chicken for 1 hour and 30 minutes at 375°F or until a food thermometer reads 165°F when inserted in the thigh area and breast area. Loosely cover the chicken with a sheet of foil and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

FRENCH ROAST CHICKEN WITH LEMON

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven to 385F. Put your roasting pan into the oven.
• Order is important. Put the thyme and rosemary into the cavity, followed by the 1/2 lemon and finally the 1/2 onion. Tie the legs together with butcher's twine (look closely in the picture). Rub the chicken with olive oil and then season generously with salt and pepper.
• Place the chicken in the hot pan - it should sizzle - and put it in the oven for 5 minutes. This will prevent the bird from sticking. Remove the pan from the oven and pour 1/2 cup white wine around the chicken. It should sizzle again.
• Return to oven and roast until you hit an internal temperature of 165F in the breast, 175F in the thigh - 45 to 55 minutes. Baste the bird at around the 25 minute mark - just spoon some fat out of the pan and over the bird.
• When you hit temp, pull the chicken from the oven and then transfer it to a cutting board.
• Spoon off all but about 1-2 Tbsp of fat from the pan, taking care only to remove clear fat. Anything liquid with colour is flavour. You want that. You also want all those wonderful brown bits in the bottom of the pan. That's called fond and it's about the best thing you can put into a sauce.
• Heat the pan over medium heat. When it starts to sizzle, add the remaining 1/2 cup of wine. Boil it down, scraping constantly to dissolve the fond, until it's a wonderful sticky glaze. Add the chicken stock and concentrated chicken stock (this puts it over the top) and reduce by about half.
• Once the chicken has rested around 15 minutes carve into quarters (whole legs plus a boneless chicken breast picking up the wing). If this doesn't make sense, google "chicken supreme" images. Same thing except keep the whole wing. Pour any accumulated juices back into your sauce (more flavour), re-heat the sauce if necessary and serve.

LEMON AND GARLIC ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, reserving enough thyme to garnish the chicken dish, 1 lemon, halved, and 2 halves of the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Cut 2 of the lemons in quarters and scatter the quarters and remaining garlic around the chicken. Lay the bacon slices over the chicken to cover.
• Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Remove the bacon slices from the top of the chicken and set aside. Continue roasting the chicken for an additional 1/2 hour, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove to a platter and cover with aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy.
• Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.
• Slice the chicken on a platter. Garnish the chicken platter with the bacon slices, roasted garlic, reserved thyme and 1 lemon, sliced. Serve with the gravy.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH LEMONS AND FENNEL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken on a large rimmed baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Place a lemon half in cavity. Using kitchen twine, tie legs together. Add fennel and remaining lemons to sheet and toss with oil.
• Roast until juices run clear when chicken is pierced between breast and leg, or an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of a thigh (avoiding bone) registers 165, 60 to 70 minutes, basting chicken with pan juices and tossing fennel halfway through.
• Transfer chicken to a platter and cover loosely with foil; let rest 10 minutes. Carve chicken. Serve with fennel and lemons.

CRISPY SAGE & LEMON ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• The night before, put the chicken in a medium roasting tin. Rub the salt generously over the skin and into the cavity, then grind over some black pepper. Push one half of a lemon into the cavity, then tie the legs together with kitchen string. Cover and chill overnight.
• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Dab a little of the excess salt from the skin using kitchen paper.
• Mix the butter with the garlic and sage. Push the herby garlic butter under the skin using your hands and rub it over the flesh, making sure it's evenly spread out. Stuff the thyme and bay leaves into the cavity, then put the remaining lemon halves in the tin around the chicken. Roast for 1 hr, then baste the chicken with the buttery juices from the tin. Roast for a further 20-30 mins, or until cooked through. Check the chicken is cooked by inserting a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh - the juices should run clear.
• Transfer the chicken to a board, cover and leave to rest for 20 mins before carving. Slice and serve on a warmed platter.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH LEMON AND BUTTER

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450˚F.
• Rub the bird inside and out with salt and crushed peppercorns. Stuff a 1/2-tablespoon knob of butter under the skin of each side of the breast, and under the skin of each thigh. Stuff the thyme, bay leaf, and lemon wedges into the chicken's cavity.
• Use the tip of a paring knife to poke a small hole in the skin just below each of the chicken's legs, and tuck each leg carefully into that hole. (You may also truss the chicken with butcher's twine if you know how, but this is much simpler.)
• Place the chicken in a flame-proof roasting pan and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan, moving it to different parts of the oven to account for hot spots, and basting the bird two or three times with a bulb-top baster or long-handled metal spoon. Reduce the oven's heat to 300˚F and continue to roast, basting frequently, for another 30 to 40 minutes or until the bird is done: When you poke the fat part of the thigh with the paring knife, the juices should run clear.
• Remove the bird from the oven, let it rest 15 minutes, then remove the breasts and legs from the carcass, reserving everything. Use a ladle to skim off and discard as much surface fat from the pan juices as possible. Place the roasting pan on the stovetop over high heat and stir in the wine and lemon juice, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge and dissolve the browned bits. Bring this mixture to a boil and cook until it is reduced by half. Stir in the stock with the wooden spoon, bring to a boil, and reduce again by half. Remove from the heat and strain this sauce through a sieve into a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, a tablespoon at a time, until the sauce is thick and glossy. Fold in the parsley and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as necessary.
• Serve the chicken-half of the breast plus a drumstick or a thigh per person-with the sauce ladled over, and any remaining sauce in a sauceboat on the table.