On Mother's Day, while at my Grandma Grace's place, my aunt Anne and I got in a discussion about recent cookbooks and what my favorite are. While not super recent, one of my favorite cookbooks of the last 10-15 years is Patricia Well's Bistro Cooking. I went through a period where I cooked a bunch of the recipes faithfully from the book, but now, 10 years later I mostly cook from memory of how the recipe should go.
This morning, I received an email from my aunt asking what herbs I used, so I pulled out Bistro Cooking and looked up the recipe, and much to my surprise, I have almost completely swapped out the herbs Patricia Wells calls for and have substituted ones that are easy to find here in SoCal, as well as omitted the egg and added lemon slices. Thus, the version of the recipe that I have been making for the last decade is following the spirit and technique of Ms. Wells, but not the same ingredients.
Here is my re-made interpretation of Patricia Well's Herbed Chicken (Poulet Roti Aux Herbes Pile ou Face):
Ms. Jen's Whole Herbed Roasted Chicken
One whole chicken (I like Rosie's or Mary's Air Chilled from Whole Foods, or the Kosher brand from Trader Joe's)
A handful of fresh mint
A handful of fresh basil
A handful of fresh tarragon
A handful of fresh parsley (if you want) or sorrel if you can find it (I grow it)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
sea salt & pepper
1 whole lemon sliced
olive oil
salt
1) Chop all the herbs until minced. Put in bowl or heap on cutting board. Chop garlic, add to herbs. Add about 1tsp of salt & pepper to bowl/pile.
2) Take chicken out of wrapping and pull out the bag of innards, put aside, saute up later for the dog or cat. Dog/Cat will love you.
Pat chicken dry inside and out, put on a good roasting pan.
3) Carefully, with clean hands, work your fingers under the skin of the back & breast & thighs/drumsticks without breaking any skin, start stuffing (evenly) the garlic-herb mixture under the skin. Reserve at least a 1/4th of the mixture and rub it in the bird's cavity.
4) Stuff the main and neck cavities with the lemon slices.
5) Rub down the skin with some olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
6) Place the chicken breast side down on the roasting pan.
7) Roast at 400F for 15 mins, then turn down to 350F. Will take 1-1.5 hours depending on size of chicken, until the thigh meat registers on the meat thermometer at 170-180F or the juices run clear.
In the last 45 mins, I like to add root veggies (potatoes, carrots, etc) to the bottom of the pan so that they will roast in the chicken juices & fat.
During the last 20 minutes, flip the chicken over so that the breast skin turns brown.
8) Let rest about 10 minutes after exiting the oven before carving up. Serve with roast root veggies and a salad(s).
Have fun!



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