Lazy Bird Chicken

and its mustardy cousin

Lazy Bird Chicken

I rarely buy butchered chicken. I find it overpriced and often you miss out on the prized chicken fat that’s cleaned off the pieces in the process. This recipe is something I've been making and changing for years. I usually buy a whole chicken at the beginning of the week, and then put off breaking it down into pieces, even though it takes 5 minutes. Come Thursday I think “oh shoot, I have a whole chicken to cook”. So instead of going with my original plan to butcher it, I roast it whole. My favorite part of this recipe isn't actually the chicken. It's the vegetables that cook in the rendered chicken fat. They’re savory and rich and deserve a giant chunk of country sourdough bread. There are several recipes that can stem from this dinner. You can save the vegetable scraps and the chicken carcass to make a rich stock. This time I used the leftover chicken for Mustardy Chicken Salad. Both recipes are below -

prep time : 20 minutes prep, 2 hours cooking with rest time 

yield : 4 servings but makes great leftovers for use in other recipes 

1 3-4 lb roasting chicken 
¼ cup good olive oil
1 head of garlic, bisected to expose cloves
3 medium yellow potatoes, cut into wedges with skin
4 carrots, peeled 
1 fennel bulb, quartered and core removed and discarded
1 lemon, quartered
1 vine or 6 six small slicing tomatoes, set aside until the very end 
½ cup Sour Cream 
Country sourdough for serving
Lots of salt and fresh cracked pepper 

The night before you plan to cook or the morning of the meal you will want to dry the chicken out. Rinse chicken and make sure to drain the juices from inside. Do not pull off any of the excess fat. Leave the bird in all its plump glory. Dry the chicken completely with a paper towel. Set the chicken on a plate and put it back in the refrigerator to “air dry” for at least several hours but preferably overnight. This helps the skin crisp while cooking. 

Preheat oven to 375°

For roasting you want a dish that fits the chicken and all the veggies snug so the prized chicken fat pools and cooks into the vegetables. I use a large cast iron but a 9 x 13inch baking dish works great . Place carrots and bisected garlic, with the exposed cloves upright,  in the middle of the dish. The chicken is going to sit on top of these. Scatter potatoes and fennel. Drizzle half the olive oil on vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Season the chicken on all sides and a bit in the cavity as well. Place the chicken on top of the carrots and garlic in the center of the dish. Stuff the bird with 2 lemon quarters, reserving the other two for plating. Drizzle the skin with the remaining olive oil. 

Place in the preheated oven and roast for 1 ½ hours. There are a lot of opinions on the temperature of a perfect chicken. The truth is, white and dark me cook differently and don’t share the same magic number. I temp the chicken in a deep section of the thigh and also in the middle of the breast. Each should read 155 or higher, but will likely not be the same temperature. The rendered fat and olive oil help keep the bird moist so don’t stress too much if the temperature is higher. 

Let the chicken rest in the baking dish for at least 10 minutes and then for at least 10 minutes more on the cutting board before carving. Be patient, it’s worth it. 

Turn the oven up to 425°

Gently scoop out the potatoes and place them on one side of a sheet pan. Place the reserved tomatoes on the other side. Drizzle the tomatoes with juice from the roasting pan. When you’re almost ready to carve the chicken, put the sheet pan in the oven for 8-10 minutes. The potatoes will get crispy and the tomatoes will just begin to split open. Remove the remaining vegetables from the baking dish that has so lovingly kept them warm. Time to slice the bird. Plate sliced roasted chicken and roasted veggies on a large platter, spoon a bit of rendered fat and juices over the top and squeeze reserved lemon over chicken. Serve with a bowl of sour cream and warm sourdough bread for a “choose your own adventure” family-style dinner. 

Mustardy Chicken Salad 

   My mom makes phenomenal chicken salad. It’s a true commitment to the lunch cause. It involves breading chicken breast and frying them, lots of mayo, tarragon, honey - all the jazz. This is not that chicken salad but it is still a version that you will eat from the bowl in the fridge because who really puts chicken salad into a proper container? Not me, I eat it before that’s actually necessary. This is also a great use of leftover chicken from weeknight cooking or a remix of a store-bought rotisserie. It can be made from both light and dark meat and I actually think it’s better that way. No two bites are the same. 

Prep time : 10 minutes

Yield : 2-3 hearty servings

2 ½ cups chunky shredded chicken, light and dark meat 
¼ cup mayonnaise, not kewpie you want the thick stuff 
1 Tbsp Spicy Dijon 
2 Tbsp Shallot or Red Onion, minced
1 Tbsp Flat Leaf Parsley, rough chopped but small 
1 tsp Lemon Zest
Small pinch of salt
Tons of Fresh Black Pepper 

In a medium bowl whisk together all ingredients except chicken and parsely. Fold in chunky shredded chicken and chopped parsley. Eat with a fork or on a big crusty piece of sourdough, preferably lightly toasted and buttered.