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Roast Chicken with Garlic and Lemon

 

"Poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter."
~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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Okay, you may well be asking, "Why ANOTHER roast chicken with garlic
recipe?". And with good reason. We do have quite a number of excellent roast chicken recipes in our archives, including Laurie Colwin's Roast Chicken and
Bistro 110's Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic. Do you NEED another
one? Perhaps not. But what's that got to do with it? We probably do not NEED
a bazillion cheesecake recipes, either, but a lot of us have that many.
And besides. This is not just another roast chicken recipe. Trust me. This is
roast chicken with a most scrumptious twist, indeed. I offer it with no apology
whatsoever for the possible appearance of excess. There is always room for
one more recipe, right? Especially this one!
 

Roast Chicken with Garlic and Lemon
Chef Gordon Hamersley


In Julia's Kitchen With Master Chefs
by Julia Child, with Nancy Verde Barr, 1995, Alfred A. Knopf

“There’s no way that Hamersley’s Bistro could drop this very special roast
chicken from their menu; it has been there since 1987 and remains one of
he restaurant’s most-ordered items. In their early days together, Gordon
Hamersley and his then sous-chef, Jody Adams, wanted to create a special
chicken dish that could, in a way, become a Hamersley signature. For a
while they played around with the idea of a poularde demi-deuil – ‘chicken
in half-mourning’ – where slices of black truffle are stuffed under the skin
of a fat roaster. But that proved to be vastly expensive, as well as infinitely
time-consuming.
They finally developed a chicken marinated in lemon, garlic, and herbs before
being roasted alongside potatoes, onions, and more garlic. Here’s the surprise ending – the chicken is carved into breast-wing and leg-thigh portions, returned
to the pan, surrounded by its cooking liquids, and set under the broiler. The skin
becomes admirably crisp under the hot broiler while the meat remains juicy
because it is submerged. It’s a real treat of a chicken, and how generous of
Chef Gordon to give away this delicious secret!”

Two Chickens – For 4 hearty eaters, or for 6 to 8 moderate appetites

For the marinade
1 bunch of fine fresh flat-leaf parsley
(reserve 12 to 14 leaves for garnish)
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
3 large shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon mixed dried herbes de Provence
or Italian herb seasoning
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
6 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
1 lemon

The vegetables
1 or 2 large Spanish onions, skin on
2 or 3 baking potatoes, about 9 ounces each,
scrubbed and unpeeled
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Other ingredients
1/2 cup rich chicken stock in a 6-cup saucepan
1 1/2 lemons
1 head of roasted and separated garlic cloves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Special equipment suggested
1 food processor fitted with steel blade
1 zester (useful but not essential)
1 shallow roasting pan with rack,
large enough for two chickens
A jelly-roll pan (for the vegetables)
A 2-quart saucepan (for the final sauce)
A baking/serving dish that can go from
oven to table (optional)

Preparing the Marinade:  Wash the parsley and pat very dry. Chop it coarsely and drop into the bowl of the processor. Add the garlic, shallots, herbs, rosemary, and mustard. Process until the ingredients are finely chopped, then, with the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil and run
until the mixture is fluid. Transfer to a bowl and stir in a big pinch of salt
and several grinds of pepper. Use the zesting tool or a vegetable peeler
and knife to remove long strips of the lemon peel. Stir the zest into the marinade and taste very carefully for seasoning.
Marinating the Chicken:  Season the insides of the chickens with salt
and pepper and set them on the rack in the roasting pan. Rub all over with
the marinade, using either a rubber spatula or your hands [your hands!]
Cover closely with plastic wrap, and let them marinate for about 1 hour at room temperature, or 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator. (Note: Although you may be tempted to let the chickens marinate longer, beware – the flavors
can become too strong.)
Preliminaries:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. The vegetables and chickens will share the oven, and roast together in separate pans. The chickens go in first, since they take longer to cook.
Roasting the Chickens:  Set the chickens on the rack in the roasting pan, and place in the preheated oven. Roast for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes, basting with the marinade and/or pan juices occasionally, until
the leg bone separates easily when twisted, or a thermometer in the thigh
registers 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and let the chickens rest at least 20 minutes to 1/2 hour before cutting them for broiling.
Roasting the Vegetables:  Meanwhile, place the empty jelly-roll pan in
the oven to heat. Shave away the root end of the onion, leaving the core
root intact but trimming off the dark, rooty exterior, then cut the onion
into quarters through the root. Cut the potatoes into quarters the long way.
When the jelly-roll pan is hot, and while it is still in the oven, pour in the
oil. Swiftly and carefully arrange the potatoes and onions cut sides down,
on the pan, season with salt and pepper, and roast for about an hour. The vegetables are done when they are tender and very brown. If the onions become tender before the potatoes, remove the onions from the pan and
set aside. When the potatoes are tender, remove the pan from the oven
and return the onions to the pan minus their dry outer skins. Set aside at
room temperature; they will be reheated before serving.
Preparing for the Second Cooking:  Preheat the broiler and set one
oven rack on top and one on the bottom. Transfer the chickens to a cutting board and remove the rack from the roasting pan. Degrease the pan juices and pour them into the chicken stock. Deglaze the pan by pouring in a little
of the stock, set over heat, scrape up the caramelized bits, and pour back
into the stock.
Carve around each leg bone to remove the leg and thigh in one piece.
Leaving as much skin on each chicken as possible, remove the breast and wing in one piece, cutting and pulling – it should release easily. Arrange the chicken pieces, skin side up, either back in the same roasting pan without
the rack, or in a baking/serving dish. Cut the whole lemon into 1/4-inch
slices and scatter over the chicken. Ladle the pan juices into the pan but
not over the birds, and distribute the roasted unpeeled garlic cloves around.
Ahead-of-Time Note:  The dish may be prepared to this point an hour in advance of serving. Preheat the broiler to high before continuing.
Broiling the Chicken and Reheating the Vegetables:  Set the pan so
the surface of the chicken is about 3 inches under the heating element, and, watching carefully, broil 6 to 8 minutes, until the skin is crisp and the meat has thoroughly heated through. If necessary, rotate the chicken pieces so
they crisp evenly. While the chicken is broiling on the top rack, place the vegetables on the bottom rack and leave just until they are reheated.
Making the Sauce:  When the chicken is ready, carefully pour the juices from the roasting pan into a saucepan with the chicken stock, and turn the heat to high. Squeeze in the juice of the half lemon, bring to a boil and
reduce by about half. The sauce should be slightly thickened and lemony
in taste. Remove from heat and whisk in the tablespoon of butter. Taste
for seasoning.
Serving:  Arrange the potatoes and onions on a serving platter or on individual plates. At Hamersley’s they serve each guest a whole leg-thigh
and a whole breast-wing portion; you may want to cut the chicken into smaller portions. In any case, arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables, scatter on the lemon slices and garlic cloves, and pour the sauce around,
not on, the chicken. Garnish with the reserved parsley leaves, and serve.
 

Featured Archive Recipe:
Herb-Roasted Chicken (Alain Ducasse)
Chicken with Roasted Lemon and
Rosemary Sauce (Tra Vigne)
 

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