I have been planting herb pots the last few years. Different herbs seemed to do well each year. And, at the end of the season, I start to have a bit of a rush to use up the herbs, either in meals or by preserving.
This year I have a lot of, you guessed it, Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme. Although, I was telling this story to my hairdresser and she had never heard of the song. Then I felt old.
So naturally I searched online, found a couple of recipes, and found this one:
And I do love it when I find a recipe I want to try where I don’t have to go grocery shopping for anything (except shallots but I used some Penzey’s air-dried shallots instead)
First I made the rub, using olive oil, paprika, kosher salt, and garlic powder. The recipe called for sea salt, but I think any coarse salt is fine here, and kosher is less expensive than sea salt.
The recipe also calls for stuffing the chicken with two chopped shallots. I didn’t have any shallots, so I decided to use some air-dried shallots that I had, and mix them in with the rub. When I make this again, I will soak the shallots for a bit, then drain and add to the rub. It tasted good as is, but would mix in better if rehydrated first.
Rub the mixture all over a whole chicken, including inside the cavity.
I quartered a lemon, and peeled several cloves of garlic.
The recipe also calls for 1/2 cup each of the herbs. I don’t know how they figured that. I was using fresh herbs that I had cut from my herb pots so I just took a small handful of parsley, a couple of sprigs of rosemary, probably 5 or 6 sprigs of thyme, and a couple of stems of sage and bundled them together before stuffing them into the chicken along with the quartered lemons and garlic cloves.
I did not roast using their method. I used my standard roasting method for chicken. The smell of this chicken roasting was incredible! Out of the oven, I removed the herbs, lemon, and garlic, and let it rest.
The chicken was really moist, and full of flavor. The drippings were great just drizzled over the chicken, but would also make a good gravy. The next day I actually defatted the drippings, and used in a bowl with some leftover shredded chicken as a sort of soup, also delicious.
I put the link above, but I have put the recipe below with my changes. You will need a cast iron skillet for my roasting method.
Simon and Garfunkel Chicken
1 3-4 lb roasting chicken
Rub:
2 T Penzey's air-dried shallots
1 T Paprika
1 T kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 T olive oil
Herbs, Lemon and Garlic for Stuffing Chicken
1 small handful fresh parsley (see picture for reference)
1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4-6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 steps fresh sage
1 lemon, quartered
4-6 cloves garlic, peeled
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit
Rehydrate 2 Tablespoons Penzey’s air-dried shallots in a small amount of water.
Quarter the lemon, and peel the garlic cloves, set aside.
Bundle the herbs together, use a small piece of twine to tie together.
Drain the shallots, and mix with the paprika, salt, garlic powder, and olive oil.
Wash and pat dry the chicken, then rub the spice mixture all over and inside the chicken cavity, and then place in a cast iron skillet.
Stuff with the lemon, garlic, and the herb bundle
Roast at 450 for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 325 Fahrenheit. Roast another 1 1/2 hours (you may want to check at 1 and 1/4—you don’t want the heat to go above 180).
Remove from the oven and remove the herbs, lemon and garlic and discard. Let rest 10 - 15 minutes before carving.
The juices are delicious. You could make a gravy, or just use the drippings straight, as I did.
Labels: Main Dish