Tarragon Roasted Free Range Chicken Food

TARRAGON & MUSTARD ROASTED FREE-RANGE CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6. Put the tarragon stalks, vegetables, olive oil and garlic in a heavy roasting tin. Place on a high heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to brown.
• While the vegetables are cooking, remove any string from the chickens, sprinkle the cavities with salt and pepper and stuff the lemon quarters inside.
• Lay the chickens, breast-side down, on top of the veg. Season with salt and pepper, scatter over half the chopped tarragon leaves, then drizzle with a little olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix 1 tbsp mustard with the remaining chopped tarragon leaves.
• Remove the roasting tin from the oven, turn the chickens over and spread with the mustard mixture. Return the chickens to the oven and roast for a further 40 minutes or until the juices run clear when a thigh is pierced with a skewer.
• Remove the chickens to a dish or 2 large plates and cover each one with an upturned bowl. Skim any excess fat from the roasting tin. Place the tin on a high heat, pour in the wine, and boil for 8-10 minutes until the wine has almost completely reduced. Now pour in the stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for 5-7 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in 1 tsp mustard, season to taste and strain into a gravy boat.

TARRAGON CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat the garlic oil in a frying pan or Dutch oven that has a lid and in which the chicken breasts will fit pretty snugly. Add the scallions, stir, then sprinkle in the freeze-dried tarragon, stir again and cook them in the garlic oil for a minute, stirring some more as they cook.
• Put the chicken fillets into the pan, curved side down, and cook for 5 minutes, watching the scallions don't burn. If they look like they're beginning to, scrape them from the pan and let them sit on the chicken pieces.
• Turn over the breasts, and add the vermouth (or white wine). Let the vermouth bubble up, then add the salt. Put the lid on, turn the heat down low and leave it to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Check the chicken is cooked through by making a small cut into the thickest part and ensuring the juices run clear - if not, simmer for a few minutes longer and check again.
• Remove the chicken breasts to warmed plates. Bring the remaining liquid to a boil, add the cream and stir well, then sprinkle in the fresh tarragon, stir again and give a good grind of white pepper.
• Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts, and give a final scattering of tarragon to serve.

TARRAGON-ROASTED FREE-RANGE CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, combine the butter, tarragon, shallot, zest, lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Mash with a spoon until smooth.
• Remove the giblets and excess fat from the cavity of the chicken and sprinkle it inside and out with salt and pepper. Using your fingers, loosen the skin over the breast and work 2/3 of the butter mixture into the space between the skin and breast meat. Rub the remaining butter mixture over the skin and in the cavity. Place the reserved tarragon stems in the cavity.
• Transfer the bird to a roasting pan fitted with a rack and roast for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 375 degrees and continue to roast until the juices run clear when the flesh is pricked with a fork at the thickest part of the thigh, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

TARRAGON ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F degrees
• Lightly butter a large roasting tin.
• Mix the butter with the garlic, tarragon, salt and pepper
• Remove the string from the chicken legs and the giblets from the cavity (if there).
• Loosen the skin near the cavity and spread half the butter underneath it, on top of the meat.
• Slather the remaining butter over the chicken breast and legs.
• Place the chicken in the roasting tin and roast for 1 hour 15 minutes
• Baste the chicken with juices every 20 minutes for a moist meat. You could opt to baste just once half way through roasting.
• Check that the chicken is cooked by inserting a knife into the thickest part of the thigh. Clear juices indicate the chicken is cooked. If they are pink, roast for longer.
• Remove from the oven and cover with foil. Rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.
• Spoon the pan juices over the chicken or use it to make a gravy

TARRAGON CHICKEN

Steps:

• Butterfly chicken by placing it breast-side down and, using kitchen shears, cutting along both sides of backbone and through small rib bones. Discard backbone, and place chicken in a large plastic bag with zipper. Add 1/2 cup tarragon, the lemon juice and zest, and olive oil. Expel as much air as possible from bag, and make sure marinade coats chicken. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour and up to 24 hours.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place chicken in a roasting pan, spread flat, breast side up. Roast until skin is crisp and golden, 35 to 45 minutes.
• Sprinkle with salt to taste, and cut into 8 serving pieces. Transfer to a platter, and garnish with remaining tarragon. Serve, if desired, with salad and roasted potatoes.

SKILLET TARRAGON CHICKEN

Steps:

• Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Set aside remaining flour.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in large skillet and brown chicken on both sides. Remove chicken and keep warm.
• Saute onion in same skillet until it begins to become clear.
• Add wine and cook until liquid is almost evaporated, stirring to loosen browned bits (deglaze) on bottom of skillet. Watch closely- this happens fast!
• Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in reserved flour until it becomes a thick paste.
• Add tarragon, chicken broth and the cooked chicken. Cover and cook until tender.
• Place chicken on a warm platter.
• Add remaining butter and heavy cream to the liquid that is in the skillet and heat through.
• Pour sauce over the chicken and garnish with a little more tarragon or some chopped fresh parsley or green onion if desired.

TARRAGON ROAST CHICKEN WITH SUMMER GREENS

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Finely grate the zest and squeeze the juice from the lemon, then set aside, keeping them separate from each other. Put the squeezed-out lemon and the tarragon sprig in the chicken cavity. Tip the potatoes into a large roasting tin and toss with the oil and a grinding of black pepper. Sit the chicken in the middle, but not on top of the potatoes and roast for 1¼-1½ hrs until the chicken is cooked but still moist, and the potatoes are tender and golden. Remove the tin from the oven, pour off any juices into a jug and set aside. Toss the lemon zest through the potatoes and leave the chicken to rest, covered, while you cook the greens.
• Pour 150ml water into a pan and add the bouillon. Drop in the leeks, cover and cook for 2 mins, then add the asparagus and peas. Cover again and cook for 2 mins more. Finally, stir through the spinach to wilt it. Pour the roasting juices into the veg with 2 tbsp lemon juice, the yogurt and tarragon leaves, and stir well. If you're following our Healthy Diet Plan, serve half the veg with the meat from a skinless chicken leg and breast. Eat the other breast and leg with the remaining veg on another day. Will keep for up to three days, covered, in the fridge. To serve, reheat on plates in the microwave. Reserve any meat left on the carcass for our healthy quinoa salad.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH TARRAGON

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Remove fat from the crop and cavity of the chicken. Remove the neck, gizzards and liver and freeze for another use.
• Squeeze half the lemon all over the skin of the chicken. Season the skin with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the remaining half lemon, garlic and 1 bunch whole tarragon.
• Put the chicken in a roasting pan, breast side up, and roast 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the juices run clear. During the first few minutes, either shake the chicken or move it frequently with a wooden spoon to keep it from sticking.
• When chicken is done, tilt it over the roasting pan to let the cavity juices run into the pan. Remove the chicken to a platter. Pour off the fat from the roasting pan.
• Put the pan on top of the stove. Add the wine and bring the contents of the pan to a boil, while scraping the bottom vigorously with a wooden spoon. Stir in tarragon leaves. Let simmer 5 minutes once the pan is thoroughly deglazed. Serve the pan juices over the chicken or pass it separately in a sauce boat.

FRENCH TARRAGON ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180c.
• Season the body cavity with the salt and pepper, add 1.5 oz butter, and 1 tsp of the tarragon. Close the cavity with a skewer or toothpick.
• Use the remaining butter to spread over the breast of the bird. Cover with large piece greaseproof paper.
• Place the bird on a rack over the roasting dish and add 2 cups of water. Cook for 1.5 hours or till juices run clear.
• In the meantime, mix the remaining tarragon in a saucepan with the 2 remaining cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer till the liquid has reduced by half.
• With a little water mix the cornstarch to a thin paste and whisk into the tarragon water to thicken it to make a sauce.
• Remove the bird from the pan and set aside.
• Whisk the liquid from the roasting pan into the sauce and add the cream.
• Pour some of the sauce over the bird.
• Serve the remaining sauce separately.
• Serve with boiled potatoes, glazed carrots and runner beans.