Whole Roast Chicken with Warm Potato and Green Bean Salad

                      

Whole roast chicken is one of the easiest and tastiest dishes to make, plus it is so versatile and can be paired with countless combinations.  It takes about an hour and a half from start to finish, but the great thing is since you are roasting it you don't have to do anything while it cooks away in the oven.  I also like to make homemade chicken stock (and chicken noodle soup) with the leftovers.

You can get a whole bird at any grocery store.  Typically, the organic ones are smaller since they are not pumped full of growth hormones.  At Whole Foods it's $1 more per pound to go organic, but worth it in my opinion since we don't need Frankenstein birds.

There are so many flavor combinations possible with roast chicken, but I usually keep it simple.  

1 whole chicken (about 3-4 lbs)

1 teaspoon olive oil (at the most)

1 tablespoon of herbs (I used Herbs d'Provence, rosemary and thyme is a pretty classic roast chicken combination)

1 teaspoon salt

1teaspoon pepper

For quick pan sauce:

Reserved chicken drippings
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup of white wine
3/4 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper

I made a nice warm potato and green bean salad to accompany the chicken.  For the salad, you will need:

3/4 lb potato (I used tricolor fingerling, you could also use red potatoes)

1/3 lb green beans, preferably the small French kind

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons chopped green olives

1 tablespoon capers

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove

This little guy below is just over 3 pounds.  Some butchers leave the innards inside, so the first thing to do is check to make sure that there is not a bag of guts inside the bird.  Also, if your oven takes as long to warm up as mine does, turn it on now to 450.

Sometimes I stuff the bird with lemon, or garlic, but this time I did not.  If you are stuffing the bird, this is the time to do it. Most butchers will remove the wish bone, but if they don't you could remove the wish bone to make butchering easier later on.  Trussing the chicken (tie the legs and wings together) is not necessary either, but it helps the bird to cook evenly.  To truss the bird, tuck the wings underneath so they don't burn, then wrap some kitchen twine around the bird and over the wings, cross the legs, around the tail bone, and tie them shut.

Next, make sure to pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.  This will ensure that it browns properly.  There is no science to seasoning and my measurements above are just estimates.  Just drizzle some olive oil over the top and rub all over to coat.  Then add your herbs, salt, and pepper.  Rub over the bird to cover all areas liberally.

Place the bird in roasting pan or oven proof skillet and roast at 450 for about an hour (internal temp should be around 170).  If the top is beginning to burn, you can cover in aluminum foil or lower the temperature to 400 for the last 20 minutes or so.

While the chicken is roasting in the oven, you have plenty of time to work on the salad.  To get started, bring a pot of water to boil, and get an ice bath ready.  Clean the vegetables and trim the ends off the green beans.  I left some of the potatoes whole but halved the larger ones.  Boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until fork tender, remove with a slotted spoon and place in the ice bath.

Then blanch the green beans for a couple of minutes and place in the ice bath.

Drain the vegetables from the water and place to the side to heat up later.  Then work on composing the other ingredients.  Combine the capers, olives, onions, parsley, and garbanzo beans in a bowl.  

Slice the mushrooms and chop the garlic to round out the salad.

After an hour the bird should be beautifully browned and with a nice, crispy skin. 

Place the chicken on a cutting board and cover with aluminum foil, allow to rest for at least 10, preferably 15 or 20 minutes so the juices can redistribute.  Reserve the drippings in the pan for a quick pan sauce later on.

I waited to start finishing the salad until the chicken was out of the oven and resting.  To get started, heat a drop of olive oil over medium high heat.  Saute the mushrooms, after a few minutes add a clove of garlic.

Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the potatoes and green beans to warm back up.  

After a minute or two, add the remaining ingredients and heat for a few minutes to warm up.

For the dressing, add the vinegar and mustard to a bowl.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and whisk.

Combine with the rest of the ingredients in the pan and cook for only about 30 seconds to a minute.  Make sure to season the whole salad with salt and pepper.

It's a pretty straight forward salad and is delicious served warm or cold.

For a quick pan sauce, heat 2 tablespoons of the chicken dripping over medium-high heat.

Add the garlic and cook just until it's fragrant.

Add the white wine and deglaze the pan.  Then add the stock and bring to a boil.

Simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce reduces by at least half and begins to thicken.

To finish out the dinner, butcher the bird (but save the carcass for stock).  This takes some practice...  The pieces may not look too pretty the first few times you cook a whole bird.  Plate the chicken and salad and top the chicken with the pan sauce.

If you are making a whole chicken then you should be making stock as well.  Reserve the skin and bones for a delicious homemade stock.