From my pantry – Roast Chicken Supper


I can’t take the credit for this absolutely delicious roast chicken supper. I saw how to do this on an America’s Test Kitchen show recently on PBS TV. It looked so good, I made it the very next day with amazing results. You have to try this! I used one of Sharyn’s Pantry locally raised beautiful free-range chickens. This is win win: you support a local farmer and get the very best chicken available. I had the fresh herbs in my herb garden, if you don’t have this, use dried herbs and you know we carry these!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1- 4 lb. whole chicken ( I used a 4- 1/4 lb. chicken)
• 4 tbsp. melted butter with
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme amd
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh sage with a little Kosher salt and pepper. This is to be brushed over all of the chicken.
• 2 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 ribs of celery, diced
  

• 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 Italian loaf of bread (I used 4 large homemade buns larger than a hamburger bun in size.) Cut this into crouton sized cubes.
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh sage
• 1 tbsp. fresh thyme minced
• 3 tbsp. summer savory (We carry this hard to find locally grown herb.)

METHOD:

Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. -Melt the 4 tbsp. of butter and add to that the chopped tbsp. of fresh thyme and sage. Sprinkle the chicken liberally with Kosher salt and peppper to season nicely. -In a very large cast iron skillet or stainless steel frying pan (12″ size), melt the 2 tbsp. butter and the oil over MED heat. Saute the chopped onions and celery until they are translucent and softened. Season this with the 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt and pepper. -Lay the chicken over the sauteed onions and celery. -Now, around the chicken, place all of the cubed croutons you cut from the bread. Mound them up as high as you can, everywhere they will fit. -Roast the chicken, uncovered, in a pre-heated 375 degree F. oven. A 4 lb. chicken will take 1 hour. My 4- 1/4 lb. chicken roasted for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove the skillet with the chicken and tent this with aluminum foil. Allow this to sit, undisturbed for 10 minutes. The chicken skin is crispy and the meat is very moist and flavourful. Absolutely delicious!!!! -Lift the roasted chicken from the skillet. Place it on a plate to carve up. Toss all of the baked croutons in with the celery and onion. All of the pan juices will mix in with the croutons to give you the very best stuffing ever! ENJOY!!!later on in the week.