Sunday Dinner: Roast Chicken Edition

When it came to planning this week’s Sunday Dinner (which you may recall is often the most elaborate/time consuming meal of the week in our house), I could only think of one thing—roast chicken. I am not sure why, but for some reason I got the idea in my head and that was that.  I took the fact that Jason didn’t think my sudden desire to cook a whole bird was odd as a good sign and decided to go for it.

After consulting a couple of cookbooks I thought “how hard can this be?” and decided to wing it (no pun intended).  I made a compound butter with tarragon and thyme and massaged it both underneath and on top of the skin. I put the chicken in a hot cast iron pan along with some new potatoes and stuck it in a pretty hot oven.  In order to ensure maximum flavor, I made a little glaze of Dijon mustard and honey and basted the chicken a couple of times about halfway through the cooking process. 

It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The chicken was incredibly moist and the potatoes (which cooked up with the chicken drippings) were full of flavor. I served it with a zucchini dish from this month’s Everyday Food. The most difficult part was dealing with the overly sensitive smoke detector in our apartment which goes off pretty much anytime the oven is heated above 400 degrees (reason # 92 why I can’t wait to get out of this place).

Roast Chicken with Herbs and Mustard Glaze
Inspired by recipes from Martha Stewart, America’s Test Kitchen and Mark Bittman

Ingredients:
1 (3-4 lb) whole chicken
4 TBL butter, softened
1 TBL (total) chopped tarragon and thyme
Salt and Pepper
1 lb new potatoes, cut in half
2 TBL Dijon mustard
1 TBL honey

1.Place cast iron pan in oven and preheat to 450 degrees.  Mix butter with herbs, salt, and pepper.
2.Rinse chicken (inside and out) under cool tap water and pat dry.  Generously salt and pepper the inside and outside of the chicken. Using your fingers, loosen the skin of the chicken from the breasts. Spread about half of the herb butter underneath the skin and smooth it all around. Take half of the remaining butter and place it in the cavity. Massage the final bit of butter all over the skin.
3.Remove the cast iron pan and place the chicken, breast side up, in the middle. Scatter the potatoes around the outside. Place the chicken and potatoes in oven.
4.While the chicken is roasting, mix together mustard and honey. I thinned it out with about 1 TBL of water so it would go on a bit easier.
5.After about 30 minutes, baste the chicken with the glaze. Continue to baste every 5-10 minutes until the chicken is done (about 55 minutes from start to finish). Make sure that a thermometer inserted at thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees.
6.Remove chicken to a cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for about 10 minutes. Carve and serve.

Zucchini with Lemon and Thyme
Adapted, just barely, from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
3 medium zucchini, cut into large pieces
4 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Juice from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1.Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add half the zucchini and toss to coat in oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook until golden brown in spots, about 4 minutes.
2.Transfer zucchini to a serving bowl and repeat with remaining oil and zucchini.
3.Stir batches together and add lemon juice and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.