My Roast Chicken

Flawless Roast Chicken

My Basic Herb & Lemon Marinade

They say you can tell a lot about a cooks skill when he or she cooks a chicken, this how I do it. The very tricky part is how to cook both the breast and legs perfectly without over or under cooking both of them, the best way is to butcher them so they are the same size and will cook evenly. I first remove the breasts from the bone leaving the wing on then remove the whole legs. The carcass goes into a pot with vegetables to be made into a stock for other uses. I then completely debone the legs so they are not so big and dense, this will give them the same cooking time as the breasts because they are the same thickness. My standard chicken marinade is crushed garlic, lemons, fresh garden rosemary, extra virgin olive oil, fresh pepper and kosher salt. The longer it sits chilled and the marinade penetrates the better. To cook first bring the chicken to room temperature, next I will preheat the oven to a hot 400-450F and also heat a large saute pan on top of the stove with a dash of oil, then the chicken parts go in skin side down, after about ten minutes the chicken is flipped and the pan goes into the oven. Only about 15-20 minutes and its done or when it reaches 160 degrees. Golden brown and crispy with lots of great flavor.

Note: When ever possible buy fresh, local and organic, the quality really makes a difference.