In the June issue of Bon Appetit a recipe was featured for a roast chicken using herbs de provence. The magazine suggested making this chicken for a picnic, packing it up to serve at room temperature in a park somewhere. However romantic a notion, I've never really been into the idea of a picnic, nor have I been inclined to wait for a roast chicken. It being the opposite of picnic weather here in Clinton, NY (as evidenced by my drowned roses and dismal forecast below) I decided to deviate from my regular roasted chicken and give this one a try.
Only one problem, although I was the only 22 year old I knew to have my very own kitchen-aid stand mixer, I, at 27 still have failed to acquire the roasting pan with a rack that the recipe requires. My creative (read cheap) idea was to roast the chicken directly on the oven rack as I do in this recipe for roast beef. I promised my few but faithful readers that I would write of my failures as often as my successes and now I must share how I very nearly started an oven fire. See, what I hadn't taken into account was the much higher fat content of a whole chicken compared to a roast beef and the much higher temperature that it would have to be cooked. Once again, my significant other had the privilege of coming home to a cloud of smoke. I lowered the temperature to 400° while keeping the oven door open and fanning the kitchen door open and closed for the smoke to dissipate. The chicken cooked at 400° for the remainder of the 25 minutes that it was supposed to be cooking at 475° and then for 40 minutes at 350°, a little longer than recommended, to achieve the correct internal temperature. Disaster avoided.
All I did differently from Bon Appetit, was use a garlic powder instead of fresh garlic and stuff a few sprigs of rosemary in the cavity. I suggest actually using a roasting pan and rack and if your chicken still threatens to ignite... well than consider this post as an effective escape plan that resulted in some pretty delicious chicken. Now I'll just sit here munching on my leftovers dreaming of drier weather and researching the building of arks.
Buen Provecho!
