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Lex's Roast Chicken (adapted from Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating)
- 3-4 lb. roasting chicken
- 1/4 C plus 2 T extra virgin olive oil
- 3 large onions, sliced (the original recipe calls for onions sliced into half moons)
- 4 celery ribs, cut into 1/8 inch-thick slices
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 T lemon zest
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stems or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 & 1/4 tsp course sea salt
- 1 & 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 C chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1/2 loaf day-old crusty white country bread cut into 3/4-inch thick slices
- 1/4 C fresh lemon juice
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 C olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and celery and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, lemon zest, thyme, red pepper flakes, 1 & 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Saute until onions and celery are soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes more. Remove from heat, stir in parsley and set aside.
3. While the onions and celery are cooking, butterfly the chicken
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5. Place chicken skin side up on top of the onion-celery
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6. Roast for 1 hour 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 160 F (start checking at 1 hour 15 minutes to avoid overcooking). The skin should be golden brown and the bread should have absorbed all of the chicken's juices. (I found that I needed to add a few splashes of store-bought chicken broth to avoid drying out the bread cubes that weren't covered by the chicken).
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I plated this with Giada de Laurentiis's Spicy Parmesan Green Beans and Kale and to me, it was the perfect dinner to celebrate the New Year!
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I like the sound of your good luck dish. I've never heard of cutting the chicken so it lies flat but I'm going to give it a try as I love juicy chicken. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
ReplyDeleteGreat way to make a chicken. I love Zingerman's! I grew up in Ohio about 45 minutes from Ann Arbor. They have the best rye bread.
ReplyDeleteThat chicken looks delicious - and I hadn't ever heard it's suppose to be bad luck!
ReplyDeleteThat looks great! I'm so glad you actually tried a recipe. I think I'm going to buy the book when the library demands the copy I have back.
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