Me and My Roasted Chicken

You might think that running a farm business to raise pastured protein would solidify my access to every sort of meaty delight.  Like a kid in a candy shop I could feast to my heart’s content on whatever came to mind!  This is a half truth.  Okay, maybe a two-thirds truth.  The whole truth is that, up until last year when we closed our retail business, I had access to a lot of whole chickens which in my mind meant the breast was usually dry, leg quarters were rarely cooked right, and in general, the dish was ho-hum unless it had some awesome saucy concoction to distract me.  Ugh, who wanted to fuss with all that!  This post chronicles how I fell back in love with chicken when -- on a wonderful, life-changing day -- our foodie friend Chris in Nashville gave us a marvelous how-to for roasting a whole bird.  Since then, the days of blah chicken have been abolished thanks to this reliable recipe that’s become one of our family favorites!  Best-Ever, Super-Easy, Skillet-Roasted Chicken

Humor me for a moment and ignore any other meat varieties in the mental picture of our frigid freezer scene.  Instead, envision a young bride and farmer with a freezer full of chicken...whole ones. Visions of enchiladas, panini, and stir fry featuring succulent chicken breast would dance through my head, but I simply had no vision for how to make a whole chicken quite as tantalizing.  I’d have pining moments for the convenience and versatility of the ever-sensationalized boneless, skinless chicken breast -- the one cut that 90% of chicken recipes rely upon and ironically the one item that small, pastured farmers never package because it’s not cost effective.  The cuts we did package were bone-in, skin-on, and generally off-limits to me because they were so popular with our customers.  Still, I chided myself that as an enlightened eater and cook, I simply had to accept the reality that the chicken exists with a whole lot more to offer than the breast.  So I was resigned to cooking whole chicken that neither my husband nor I were very excited about eating.  Until The Recipe came along...

The first key is to start with a pastured chicken.  Knowing your farmer and their practices will help ensure you've got a delicious, nutritionally-packed, sustainably-raised chicken.  The more yellow the skin, the better, because it means the bird spent a lot of time foraging and consuming plenty of vitamins, beta-carotene, and chlorophyll while on pasture.  Keep in mind that some of this is seasonally-dependent.  Though both are truly pastured, a bird reaching maturity at spring lush may have more yellow skin than one that matured in the heat of summer.  Whatever the season it was on the ground, be sure it was pastured and you'll be headed in the right direction.

The next key is to have a cast-iron skillet large enough to hold your chicken.  I use my 10-inch skillet and have never had a problem fitting in a chicken as large as 5 lbs.  A well-seasoned iron skillet is a God-send in so many ways; roasting a chicken is only one reason to have one at your finger tips.

Best-Ever, Super-Easy, Skillet-Roasted Chicken

1.  If you have time, bring the chicken to room temperature. Place a medium skillet on the middle rack of a cold oven.  Pre-heat oven to 425F.
2.  Generously Salt and Pepper the inside cavity of the chicken.

3.  Generously coat the outside of the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.   (We usually enjoy it plain and simple as listed above, but if you wish, also coat the outside of the chicken with a mixture of herbs or spices: Italian blend, French blend, Curry blend, etc.)

4.  Peel and crush 2-4 cloves of garlic. Put garlic cloves into the cavity of chicken.  If you're feeling creative and flavorful, add a bouquet of fresh herbs or a small yellow onion cut in half.   With or without, it's delicious.

5.  Put chicken in the skillet breast-side down. Roast for 30 minutes, then gently turn the bird breast-side up for an additional 30-45 minutes.  For my approximately 4-lb. chicken, it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes total.  Note: If the chicken begins to brown too much in the last 25 minutes, simply place a piece of foil loosely on top of the chicken.  
6.  To check for done-ness, pull gently to separate the leg quarter from the breast enough to pierce the skin and see down to the joint.  The juices should flow clear and the meat should be white down at the joint.  Any pink or red and the bird needs more time in the oven.  Add time in 5-10 minute increments.  Do not overcook.  
7.  When fully cooked, remove chicken from oven and set aside, loosely covered. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. 
8.  Use kitchen shears or a very sharp knife to cut the chicken into portions: 2 leg quarters (or 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks), 2 wings, and 2-large (or 4-small) pieces of breast.

Talk about JUICY!

This week my mom came for dinner one night and we served our signature chicken with sweet potatoes, steamed cauliflower, and salad.  It made for a great meal, sparkling conversation (as Weldon snapped shots for the blog), and the awesome leftovers were turned into yummy quesadillas.  Though I very rarely have them anymore, I didn't completely give up my “boneless, skinless breast” daydreams.  After deciding to close our business last year, we home-processed our own meat birds for the first time.  With a ration of whole birds already in the freezer, I simply cut up the new batch of chickens to be stored in bags of drumsticks, thighs, wings, and beautiful boneless, skinless breasts.  While a USDA processor would (rightly) charge us a fortune to produce this prized “Boneless, Skin-less” package, I can do it at home with little effort and a few extra freezer bags.  Ah, the beauties of being fully in control of my food from soil to table.  Now I really do feel like a kid in a candy shop!