Winner Winner Chicken Dinner Part 2: Lou's Roast Chicken Dinner

So K had a craving for a roast chicken dinner the other day and it was a Sunday so I acquiesced.  Who am I kidding here, there was no protest at all and I fully went into top gear to get one of my favorite meals together.

Roast chicken is a universal comfort food and ubiquitous in many family's kitchens.  But too many times, without proper love and care, the chicken turns out overcooked, dry and just unpleasant.  I've honed my roast chicken recipes for a few years now and have a pretty good version to call my own. It starts with grain fed, all natural, hormone free chicken.  I always brine my chicken the night before to ensure it stays moist through the roasting process and helps penetrate additional flavors deep into the meat.  I will let the chicken air dry in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to help dry out the skin and ensure a nice crisp.  Next be sure to truss your bird. It keeps everything tight while roasting and ensures a nice even cooking bird.  I baste it with butter to add flavor and help with browning/crisping the skin.  Lastly, I coat the chicken with my own spice rub to add another layer of flavor to that lovely skin.  I know many people are trying to eat healthy and would do all that they can to avoid the fatty skin blah blah blah. I get it, but the skin is what makes roast chicken, thus the extra care to make it special.  Lastly, the secret sauce is the pan gravy.  This is the essence of the chicken flowing down into your roast pan, sizzling and browning with little bits of the rub and chicken caramelizing. It would be a travesty to have all that go to waste.

For this chicken dinner, I serve a variety of sides with it, but for this Sunday's dinner, we had roasted root vegetables.

This recipe takes some time and TLC.  You can skip the brine and the air drying but why go with my recipe if you don't follow the key steps?  Make this on the weekend and ensure you have time to go through the process. I promise it's fantastic.

Lou's Roasted Chicken with Pan Gravy

1 grain fed, free range, hormone free chicken (about 3-4 lbs)
Lou's roast chicken spice rub (recipe below)
5 liter chicken brine (recipe below)
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs of thyme
1 lemon cut in half
2 cups of chicken stock
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup of melted butter

Put chicken in brine and let it brine overnight (at least 8 hours)
Remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry and put the chicken in the refrigerator with no covering and let it air dry for at least 2 hours
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Take chicken out of the fridge and let it sit for 20 minutes to get the chill out of it before roasting
Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the thyme, rosemary, and lemon
Truss the bird (here's a how to if you need help)
Baste the entire bird with butter
Rub the spice rub all through the bird
Put the chicken on a wire rack in a roasting pan that's stove top safe - breast side up
Put the chicken in the oven, roast at 450 degrees for 20 minutes
Lower the heat to 350 and roast for another 1:10 to 1:30 minutes, depending on size of the bird, basting the chicken with pan juices every 20 minutes
Chicken is done when juices run clear and hits an internal temperature of 165 degrees - careful not to overcook the chicken
Take the chicken out of the oven and keep it warm.

To make the pan gravy, remove wire rack, put the roasting pan on your stove top and turn it to medium high heat.
Discard some of the fat leaving about 3 tablespoons.
Add flour to the hot pan and stir it in with the fat, scraping up the brown bits.
Let this cook to a nut brown color but careful not to let it burn.
Add your chicken stock and whisk it till you get a smooth gravy, add more stock if necessary to get the right consistency.
Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Lou's Roast Chicken Rub
1 sprig of thyme de-stemmed and finely chopped
1 sprig of rosemary finely chopped
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
1 teaspoon of celery seeds
1 tablespoon of salt

Put all the ingredients into a pestle and mortar and grind it down to a fine rub herb rub.  You can save any extra in air tight container for a week or two and use it for other meats.

Chicken Brine

5 liters of water
1 1/2 cups of kosher salt
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 lemon
6 cloves of garlic, smashed flat with a knife
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
2-3 bay leaves

Bring 1 liter of water up to a boil.
Add the rest of the ingredients and take the pot off the heat
Stir till sugar and salt is fully dissolved
Add 4 liters of ice cold water to the mixture
Ensure the brine is cool before you put the bird in for brining

Roasted Root Vegetables
1 parsnip
1 yukon gold potato
1 carrot
1 onion
1 sweet potato
1 head of garlic, peeled and cloves left whole
1 sprig of thyme de-stemmed
olive oil
salt and pepper

Chop all the vegetables into even 1 inch cubes, except for garlic left whole
Toss vegetables in olive oil with salt and pepper
Preheat roasting pan in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes to get pan nice and hot (this helps with caramelizing the veggies)
Add the veggies into pan and roast for 35-40 minutes