Lemon and Garlic Roasted Chicken

There was a time when roasted garlic was all the rage. People were rushing out to buy garlic roasters and slathering the stuff on thick slices of buttered baguette. While this is still a thing, and a very delicious thing, other food fads have taken over and pushed roasted garlic out of first place.

It was during that phase, when roasted garlic was on everyone’s mind, that I developed this recipe, and it has stood the test of time. It’s still one of my favorite ways to roast a whole chicken. Sweet, mellow, roasted garlic and lemon make beautiful music together. Blended with the dripping from the bird, they create a creamy and delicious sauce in minutes (with no cream involved). This is one of the chicken dishes that sometimes shows up on my Seder table. Tonight, I’m making it as part of my menu for Parasha Tzav.

Ingredients:

• 1 large roasting chicken

• kosher salt

• freshly ground pepper

• garlic powder

• paprika

• several sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme, or sage leaves, or a combination of herbs

• 1 large lemon (or 2 small ones)

• 6 cloves of peeled garlic, plus one whole large head of garlic

• extra virgin olive oil as needed

• about 1/2 cup of chicken stock

• 1/4 cup white wine

Method:

• Preheat oven to 500°.

• Set a rack in a roasting pan.

• Wash the chickens inside and out and carefully tuck sprigs of fresh herbs under the skin by gently lifting the skin from the neck end. Try not to tear the skin. 

• Rub the cavity with salt and pepper.  (be careful not to over-salt when using kosher chicken)

• With the point of a metal skewer (or something similar), pierce the lemon 20 times, turning the lemon round and round.

• Stuff the cavity of the chicken with several sprigs of herbs, the 6 cloves of peeled garlic, and the pierced lemon. Try to disperse the herbs and garlic evenly.

• Tie the legs together with kitchen twine, or truss the bird completely if you’d prefer.

• Pour the chicken stock into the bottom of the pan.

• Rub the skin of the chicken all over with a little olive oil and sprinkle it with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Then set the chicken on the rack in the pan. The stock should not come up high enough to touch the chicken.

• Take the whole head of garlic and slice off just enough from the top to reveal the cut tops of the cloves. Pour a little olive oil over the cut cloves and wrap the whole head in a piece of aluminum foil. The foil should be loose around the garlic, but tightly sealed. Place the foil wrapped garlic, and the roasting pan, in the oven. 

• After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350°. Roast for another hour, or until a meat thermometer registers 165° in the thick part of the breast. Be sure to check the bottom of the pan – if the drippings are drying out, add a little more stock.

• When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan and set it to rest on a cutting board. Remove the foil-wrapped garlic from the oven, as well.

• Remove the rack from the roasting pan and place the pan across two burners on the stove top. Turn on the heat to medium, and deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up all the bits from the bottom. Bring it to a boil and immediately remove the pan from the heat. Then pour the pan liquid and any bits and scrapings into a food processor.

• Remove the lemon, garlic cloves and rosemary from the cavity of the chicken. Discard the herbs and garlic cloves. 

• Carefully out the squeeze the juice from the roasted lemon, watching out for the seeds. Mind the holes you stabbed in the lemon and be sure that the juice doesn’t squirt out in all directions! Add the lemon juice to the food processor.

• Remove the roasted head of garlic from the foil and squeeze the soft cloves of roasted garlic right out of their skins and into the food processor as well. Purée to create a smooth sauce. (If it needs more liquid you can add a bit more stock, but don’t make the sauce too thin.)

• Carve the chicken into 8 pieces—2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings, and 2 breast halves. Then slice the breasts.

• Arrange the pieces of chicken and the breast slices on a nice serving platter. Drizzle the sauce over all. You can trim the platter with fresh herbs, if you like.

Consider serving the chicken with some beautifully artful tattooed potatoes. (I call them Tater Tats)