Recipe: Roast Chicken with Herbed Butter and Croutons
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Roast chicken is one of those shared dishes that transcends cultures and brings people together, more often than not, on a Sunday when there’s ample time to prepare a meal and linger over it with friends and plenty of good conversation. Parisian food writer, Clotilde Dusoulier, shares her flavourful version of this classic dish from her latest cookbook, Tasting Paris:
‘To the French, nothing says “Sunday lunch” like roast chicken, and in Paris, there are many ways to make it happen. You can go out to a restaurant like Drouant where they serve it as a Sunday exclusive with a tray of thick fries and a large bowl of lettuce. Or, you can get it from a market-street rôtisserie, where they tend to dozens of birds on rotating spits, basting them all morning so they are fall-off-the-bone tender and dark amber when the church bells strike eleven.
But roasting a chicken at home is a rewarding enterprise with a few simple tricks—rubbing the inside of the skin with butter and herbs, and stuffing the bird with croutons. In fact, the bird tastes even better if you prep it the night before and roast it mid morning. This gives you time to trim and steam French green beans—the slimmer kind—to serve with a drizzle of the cooking juices, as my mother did every Sunday during haricot vert season.’
Extract taken from Tasting Paris by Clotilde Dusoulier.
Roast chicken with herbed butter and croutons
Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). In a medium bowl, mash together the butter, herbs, salt, and garlic flakes.
Put the chicken breast side up, neck end facing you, on a clean work surface. Slip a clean hand under the skin, starting at the base of the neck, and work your hand further in gently, lifting the skin over each breast and down over each thigh, without tearing. Once the skin is loosened, slip in two-thirds of the herbed butter (reserve the rest for the croutons), pushing it under the skin to coat the breasts and thighs evenly.
Add the bread cubes to the remaining herbed butter and stir to coat. Stuff the buttered cubes inside the cavity, and tie the chicken with kitchen string around the drumstick ends and wings to hold its shape.
Put the chicken breast side up in a baking dish. Roast for 20 minutes. Loosen the chicken gently from the bottom of the dish. Flip to expose the back and baste with the juices. Roast for 20 minutes more.
Loosen and flip the chicken so the breast faces up again, baste with the juices, and roast until the skin is golden brown and crackly, a final 20 minutes. A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should register 165°F (75°C). Remove from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Carve the chicken and serve with the croutons and cooking juices.
Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). In a medium bowl, mash together the butter, herbs, salt, and garlic flakes.
Put the chicken breast side up, neck end facing you, on a clean work surface. Slip a clean hand under the skin, starting at the base of the neck, and work your hand further in gently, lifting the skin over each breast and down over each thigh, without tearing. Once the skin is loosened, slip in two-thirds of the herbed butter (reserve the rest for the croutons), pushing it under the skin to coat the breasts and thighs evenly.
Add the bread cubes to the remaining herbed butter and stir to coat. Stuff the buttered cubes inside the cavity, and tie the chicken with kitchen string around the drumstick ends and wings to hold its shape.
Put the chicken breast side up in a baking dish. Roast for 20 minutes. Loosen the chicken gently from the bottom of the dish. Flip to expose the back and baste with the juices. Roast for 20 minutes more.
Loosen and flip the chicken so the breast faces up again, baste with the juices, and roast until the skin is golden brown and crackly, a final 20 minutes. A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should register 165°F (75°C). Remove from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Carve the chicken and serve with the croutons and cooking juices.
Roast chicken is one of those shared dishes that transcends cultures and brings people together, more often than not, on a Sunday when there’s ample time to prepare a meal and linger over it with friends and plenty of good conversation. Parisian food writer, Clotilde Dusoulier, shares her flavourful version of this classic dish from her latest cookbook, Tasting Paris:
‘To the French, nothing says “Sunday lunch” like roast chicken, and in Paris, there are many ways to make it happen. You can go out to a restaurant like Drouant where they serve it as a Sunday exclusive with a tray of thick fries and a large bowl of lettuce. Or, you can get it from a market-street rôtisserie, where they tend to dozens of birds on rotating spits, basting them all morning so they are fall-off-the-bone tender and dark amber when the church bells strike eleven.
But roasting a chicken at home is a rewarding enterprise with a few simple tricks—rubbing the inside of the skin with butter and herbs, and stuffing the bird with croutons. In fact, the bird tastes even better if you prep it the night before and roast it mid morning. This gives you time to trim and steam French green beans—the slimmer kind—to serve with a drizzle of the cooking juices, as my mother did every Sunday during haricot vert season.’
Extract taken from Tasting Paris by Clotilde Dusoulier.
Roast chicken with herbed butter and croutons
Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). In a medium bowl, mash together the butter, herbs, salt, and garlic flakes.
Put the chicken breast side up, neck end facing you, on a clean work surface. Slip a clean hand under the skin, starting at the base of the neck, and work your hand further in gently, lifting the skin over each breast and down over each thigh, without tearing. Once the skin is loosened, slip in two-thirds of the herbed butter (reserve the rest for the croutons), pushing it under the skin to coat the breasts and thighs evenly.
Add the bread cubes to the remaining herbed butter and stir to coat. Stuff the buttered cubes inside the cavity, and tie the chicken with kitchen string around the drumstick ends and wings to hold its shape.
Put the chicken breast side up in a baking dish. Roast for 20 minutes. Loosen the chicken gently from the bottom of the dish. Flip to expose the back and baste with the juices. Roast for 20 minutes more.
Loosen and flip the chicken so the breast faces up again, baste with the juices, and roast until the skin is golden brown and crackly, a final 20 minutes. A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should register 165°F (75°C). Remove from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Carve the chicken and serve with the croutons and cooking juices.
Rachel:
I made this for dinner this evening and it was delicious. My wife loved it! We had it with Philadelphia cream cheese mashed potatoes and small sweet corn.
Jeff L.