So, a Sunday struggle after a large Saturday night led me to the grocery store. With no real plan, idea, or inspiration I just started aimlessly putting things in my shopping cart. Luckily the friendly butcher was aiding my decisions on what was on sale. 45 min later, I walked out with a 6 pound chicken.
I actually had wanted to roast a chicken for a while, so this bird was going to get the full treatment. Starting off with a brine, I wanted to inject as much spring/summer flavor into it as possible. I started simple, then kept layering flavors in...
Water
salt
pomegranate balsamic vinegar
mustard seeds
chili flakes
honey
bay leaf
lemon peel
The chicken sat in the brine for about 18 hours (it took a bit longer for the brine to cool than expected).
Now, building this meal... Thankfully, corn is coming back into season. A roasted corn salad sounded splendid. Adding a roast anaheim pepper, grilled green onions, cilantro, avocado, jalepeno, salt, white pepper, lemon olive oil, and some white balsamic made this salad a hit. Also, a last minute addition, some ciabatta croutons which were soaked in the chicken jus.
Now, on to the roast! After the brine, the chicken was stuffed with wedges of orange, lime and lemon which I tossed in a bit of salt, olive oil, and pomegranate balsamic. I made an herb butter with parsley, salt and lemon olive oil. This was not just rubbed onto the whole chicken, but also in the cavity between the skin and the breasts. The remaining wedges of citrus were placed around the chicken in the pan along with a leek.
Using the Julia Child's method (425* for 15 min, then lowering to 350*), the bird was perfect and juicy at 2 hrs.
Got distracted by the basketball game, so the pic was taken with the legs off... but, i think it still looks great.
Adding a nice spinach salad, Italian red wine, and great company, everyone was happy. A new keeper.
Now, what to make with the stock??
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