I love it when recipes almost go completely against everything you thought you knew. Growing up, roasted birds were to be slathered in butter, stuffed with herbs and spices and all sorts of vegetables, cooked for hours on end and fussed around with endlessly. True, my own Thanksgiving turkey follows these guidelines quite a bit (except I brine instead of butter) and there is great merit to everything I just said, but this method throws all of that out the window, and it is still my favorite way to cook a bird.

All you do is take a whole chicken, clean it, dry it really well, season with salt and bake at a screaming hot temperature for very little time, and you’re done. That’s it. Seriously.

The method comes from Thomas Keller of French Laundry and Per Se fame, restaurants known for froufrou and ultra-complicated recipes so it only seems ironically fitting that the chef who authors the recipe would be the last person I would imagine making a bird this way. But I suppose that’s the point. It’s all about the best ingredients, the best method, and the best results. That’s what true A1 cooking is about, in the end.

Since the method is so simple, makes enough for 4 servings and chicken is so versatile, this is the one of the best things for a single cook, in my opinion.  Knowing I would be in Denver all week for the photo shoot of our upcoming cookbook (exciting times!), I made this to have around so dinners would be extra easy since I would be pulling long hours all week. The things you can do with leftover chicken meat (especially meat this good) is endless, and you could easily feed off it all week.  Not to mention saving the carcass to make stock with, but that’s for another time.

Also, huge thanks to Red Wagon Farm’s stand for supplying the veg.  Not only is their produce to die for, they’re the sweetest ladies around and have extra long hours on Sundays.  Thanks girls!

My Favorite Roast Chicken with Root Veggies

Based on Thomas Keller’s method

Serves 4

Now ideally if you had two ovens (pardon me while I’m dream for a few moments… okay, I’m back) you can roast the veggies in one and the chicken in the other.  In addition to temperature differences, you don’t want to roast them together because again, we want as dry a heat as possible, and the veggies give off a lot of steam as they cook, which is a big no no.  Since I don’t have two ovens, I roast the veggies in advance, then roast the chicken.  Once the chicken is done, I pop the veggies back in the oven, turn the heat off, and let them reheat while the chicken rests.  It works perfectly timing-wise and everything is just at the right temperature.

Ingredients

• 1 2-3 pound organic farm-raised chicken
• Salt
• Pepper

Optional:

• Dijon mustard
• Salted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Prepare the bird.  Remove the giblets and discard, then rinse the bird really well inside and out.  Pat dry extremely, extremely well with paper towels or very absorbent dish cloths.  You want to remove as much moisture as possible from the bird.  A trick I always do is to dry the bird very well with towels, then let it sit completely exposed (on a plate!) in my fridge on the bottom most shelf.  The natural air exposure dries it out even more.  The whole point here is you want no steam when the bird cooks, so removing as much moisture pre-roast is the way to go.
3. Season the cavity well with salt and pepper, then truss the bird.  It’s really easy.  Use the natural weight of the bird to bend the wings under and keep them tucked in.  Then bring the legs up together, and using some cotton kitchen string, tie them together tightly so they cover the cavity opening.  That’s it.
4. Salt the entire body really, really well.  Keller says to “rain salt over the bird” in his original recipe, and that’s what I do, top and bottom.  Feel free to tuck some into the crevices and corners caused by trussing, you want everything to be flavored extremely well. Use about 1 TBL kosher salt, or enough to where you can really see a uniform coating on the skin.
5. Place the bird in a roasting pan and put in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until done.  No butter, no oil, no aromatics, nothing.  We’re cooking in a dry, hot heat and the salt will cause a super crispy shell-like skin to form, sealing in all the moisture.  The only danger I say here is a lot of smoke will be produced during the roasting, so be prepared to fan your smoke detector if it’s nearby.
6. To check for doneness, either insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast and shoot for 155°F (when it rests carryover cooking will bring it up to “safe” temperature) or make a small cut at the thigh joint.  If the juices run clear, it’s done (but this method loses juices so I usually avoid it.  Once you’ve cooked a bird enough you can tell if it’s done by feel and sight).
7. Remove from pan and let rest on a cutting board at least 10-15 minutes.
8. To carve the chicken, using a super-sharp knife, cut off the legs at the thigh joints, then separate the thighs from the drumsticks if desired. Cut the wings off at the joints.  Running your knife along the backbone, find where the breasts separate and then slice down along the spine.  Cut all the way around in as smooth a motion as possible, and remove the breast.  Do the same with the opposite side.  Be sure to snatch the little bit of meat hidden on the underside of the bird, known as the oyster.  For much clearer instructions, check out this fabulous YouTube vid from the Culinary Institute of America (God bless the internet).
9. Serve the meat with either Dijon mustard for dipping or slathered in butter and alongside roasted root veggies.

Roasted Root Veggies

Serves 2-3

This is pretty much the easiest thing ever, with ingredients being totally interchangeable and replaceable.  Just make sure your veg is about the same size and has somewhat similar cooking times.  I just chose these things because they looked so damn good at my farmer’s stand.

Ingredients

• 5-6 small cippolini onions
• 6-7 golfball-sized potatoes of varying colors
• about 1 lb small rainbow carrots
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

Optional:

• Fresh chives

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Scrub and trim all the veggies, then toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil, and plenty of salt and pepper.  Lay everything out in a small roasting tray or brownie pan (if you’re me) and pop in the oven.
3. Roast for about 45 minutes, tossing every 10-15 to make sure everything roasts evenly.
4. Toss with freshly snipped chives before serving if desired.

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