Although we are eating less meat lately, it is impossible for me to say that a simple, whole roasted chicken is not a delicious thing. First, when the meat is fresh and organic from your local farm, you will be astonished by how much better it tastes than its grocery store cousin. Second, it can form at least three meals: the original dinner, the leftover chicken for chicken salad or burritos, and a soup made from the broth. In my opinion, that kind of use and reuse (and not waste) really should form the basis of our meat eating habits — if you are going to choose to eat it, at least use every possible part in every possible way.
Thomas Keller drove this lesson home for me in his essay on rabbits in The French Laundry Cookbook (a wonderful read, by the way). In it, he describes himself as a young chef facing eleven rabbits that he had to slaughter for the restaurant. I don’t need to go into detail for you to understand that this was a horrible process. Let’s just say that we all close our eyes to this when we show up at the grocery store to buy our package of cleaned and butchered meat — rarely giving the previous steps much thought. Keller says:
“Because killing those rabbits had been such an awful experience, I would not squander them. I would use all my powers as a chef to ensure that those rabbits were beautiful. It’s very easy to go to a grocery store and buy meat, then accidentally overcook it and throw it away … Should a cook squander anything, ever? It was a simple lesson.”
I try to live by this lesson when cooking meat. When I choose to eat it, it will be beautiful and I will not waste any part of it. As an important aside, how many of us would be vegetarians if we had to butcher the meat ourselves? I can tell you without hesitation that I would not eat meat if I had to kill the animal (unless my family were starving). And for that, I am a big hypocrite. I’m aware. Therapists love me. Let’s move on. Here’s a pretty picture of butter.
So back to roast chicken… Are you still hungry? This simple recipe will produce a super moist, delicious chicken. The skin will not be overly crispy because of the herb crust — it protects the white meat and the herbs produce steam around the skin — so if you like crispy skin, this might not be your recipe. However, I have found that using drier herbs (such as rosemary and thyme) does produce a crispier skin than the “wetter” herbs like parsley, basil, chives, etc.  This method is really wonderful and gives you roast chicken in an hour — definitely doable for a weeknight.
But the bottom line is … maybe it should be a special occasion. We could all stand to eat less meat. And if we are going to eat it, do the animal justice and make it delicious. And then use the leftover meat. And then make soup.  And then freeze the extra broth. Please, just don’t ever waste it.
Simple Herb Roasted Chicken
Serve 4-6
Chicken:
1 small chicken (about 4 lbs.)
3 T softened butter
3-4 T chopped fresh herbs, plus a few sprigs for the cavity (I used chervil, parsley, basil, and chives)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and PepperGravy:
2 T pan drippings
2 T flour
1 cup of broth or water
1/2 cup of white wine, sherry, or marsala
Salt and Pepper
Additional fresh chopped herbs1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. For chicken: Rinse chicken and remove any organs from the cavity. Pat dry and place in a metal roasting pan. Mix together softened butter, chopped herbs, chopped garlic, 1 t. salt, and freshly ground pepper. Rub herb butter all over chicken and put a nice layer on top of the breast. Season with additional salt and pepper. Stuff some extra herbs in the cavity and tie the drumsticks together with some kitchen twine if you like (helps it cook evenly).
3. Roast chicken in preheated oven for about an hour, basting if you like. If it is browning too much, you can place some foil on top. It is done when a meat thermometer registers about 160-165 F in the meaty part of the thigh. Remove from oven to a platter and tent with foil.
4. If you want to make gravy from the drippings, place the roasting pan on the stove top over medium heat. You will probably have about two tablespoons of fat/drippings in the pan (if more than that, spoon a bit out. If less, add a bit of butter or olive oil.) Whisk in the two tablespoons of flour into the fat and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes (that’s your roux), scraping up all the browned bits.
5. Add in 1/2 cup of wine and whisk into the roux. Add in broth or water and whisk well to make sure roux is fully incorporated. Keep whisking or stirring until mixture comes to a boil — it will thicken. Season with salt and pepper, add any accumulated drippings from chicken platter, and stir in additional herbs.  If the gravy is too thick or thin, you can adjust it by adding more liquid or cooking a bit more to reduce it.
6. Carve chicken and serve with pan gravy.
yum! I’ve always used olive oil, but this was SO good!! Love the butter pic!
WOW… looks so good. I raise chickens for eggs but recently had WAY too many roosters and could not find a home for them, so I had to swallow hard and do the deed. I never eat “store-bought” chicken unless I can find the cruelty free stuff (very expensive and hard to come by) because the animal industry is so cruel. Although it was painful to chop their little heads off, it made me all the more determined to not waste a single bite. Thanks for encouraging the same. Great site!