Roast Chicken with Root VegetablesThe Problem: When it comes to roasting chicken with vegetables, ?

Question

Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

The Problem: When it comes to roasting chicken with vegetables, killing two birds with one stone usually means victimizing the veggies. They may be chock-full of chicken flavor, but they're also usually awash in grease and overcooked to mush.

The Goal: We wanted a recipe that gave each component the attention it deserved--not just the chicken. We felt the dish should comprise juicy chicken meat, crispy-thin skin, and vegetables infused with chicken flavor, not just chicken fat. And we wanted enough chicken to feed a hungry family, which required chickens that weighed in at 6 to 8 pounds.

The Solution: First, we needed to adapt both our classic brining and roasting methods to accommodate a big bird. Upping the concentration of the brine to 1 1/2 cups of both salt and sugar per gallon of water produced a fully seasoned chicken in just two hours. Adding garlic (two full heads) and six bay leaves to the brine produced a huge improvement in chicken flavor (interestingly, the enzyme responsible for garlic's characteristic bite is deactivated in the presence of very high concentration of salt, so there was no "garlicky" flavor, just a more intensive chicken flavor). The best and easiest way to roast the bird was to maintain a steady temperature of 400 degrees, rotating the chicken to allow for the white meat to cook at the same time as the dark meat. But what about the vegetables? The answer was a divorce. After removing the chicken to rest, we preserved the fond (browned bits) that was encrusted on the bottom of the roasting pan, and held it aside while initially roasting the veggies in plain vegetable oil (roasting in chicken fat made them sodden and greasy tasting). We restored the chicken flavor by adding the fond back for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

The question was how do you cook both and still taste the chicken and the veggies.

Answer 1

Roast them in separate roasting dishes. The juices collected from the chicken can be used to make a lovely & tasty gravy to pour over the veggies!

Answer 2

Good grief - what a huge amount of carry on for a simple roast chicken.



French roast the chicken - in water. (Stuff it if you like or half a lemon inside it gives a lovely flavour and also helps tenderise the meat. You could also throw in the garlic if you like)

Toss the veg in olive oil (and salt if that's to your taste).

Cook them in separate dishes.

Rub the chicken skin with oil, salt and lemon juice to crisp it. Pepper and paprika are also nice additions.

When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the water which is now chicken stock and place it in the dish with the vegetables - this will give them a chicken flavour.

Use the stock to make a brown sauce.

The whole lot should work if cooked @ around 180 - 190' C

Answer 3

6-8 pound bird is a roasting chicken with alot of fat. Brineing which keeps the bird moist also pushes the fat out and creates the oil pool. Good recipe but 400 oven temp for a 6-8 lb? maybe for the last half hour yes to crisp up the skin. My chose is 350, less salt, add sugar or roast the garlic first to bring out he sweetness. As for the veggies, steam them with chicken stock to fork tender.

Answer 4

roast your chicken in the normal way and as it roasts remove the natural juice and put it in a degreaser cup that will remove the chicken fat then there will be enough fat to in the stock to roast the veggies in a separate and you will have the chicken flavor infused in the veggies and not the fat....as it takes longer to roast the veg..you will have enough time to remove the stock at intervals to acquire what you need and you may even want to deglaze the pan once while the chicken is roasting.and add this to your liquid....as you stated you turn the bird at intervals also this all can be done at the same time........the cup has a spout and the grease collect at the top and the bottom of the spout is at bottom of cup and only the liquid is removed...... another way would be to put the stock in the freezer and the fat can be removed ...you would have time to do this in a shallow pan...

Answer 5

The problem may be that you are preparing all vegetables in the same manner. If you use a roasting rack, you can balance potatoes on it around the chicken. If there is not enough room, you can parboil the potatoes (or microwave them) and prick them all over. If they are big enough, you can put them on a regular oven rack. To make the other veg have a chicken flavour, you might put them into a steamer and put them on the oven shelf above the chicken during the last 15 minutes of cooking your chicken. I have never heard of brine in the cooking of chicken - I usually prick the chicken all over and stuff garlic slices in.

Answer 6

The answer is simple, do everything the same, except go out and buy an extra large roasting tin with a rack, now during the cooking process you will need to baste the chicken and the veg at regular intervals.

Answer 7

How is this a question? Another option is to put the veggies on a rack out of the chicken grease and don't cook them for as long as the chicken...but then, I don't want my vegetables to taste like chicken, I want my chicken to taste like chicken and my veggies to taste like veggies. You can toss the veggies in olive oil and sprinkle some herbs on them before you roast them too, mm-mmm!

Answer 8

Not sure if there's a question in here... but as mentioned, you could roast the veggies separately. Here's a sampling of one I like -- it is not brined and the cooking time probably needs to be adjusted as it is not a 6-8 lb chicken. Sure you could adapt. (*Note: you can cook everything in one pan.)

Rosemary-Lemon Cornish Hens w Roasted Potatoes & Maple Squash

Cooking Light

You can easily vary this recipe by using thyme in place of rosemary or sprinkling ground red pepper and garlic powder over the potatoes.

2 teaspoons crushed dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 (1 1/4-pound) Cornish hens
1/2 lemon, halved and divided
2 cups cubed Yukon gold or red potato
2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine crushed dried rosemary, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Remove and discard giblets from hens. Rinse hens with cold water; pat dry. Remove skin; trim excess fat.

Working with 1 hen at a time, place 1 lemon piece in the cavity of hen; tie ends of legs together with twine. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under hen. Repeat procedure with remaining hen and lemon piece. Rub hens with rosemary mixture. Place hens, breast sides up, on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray.

Toss potato with oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Arrange the potato around hens. Insert a meat thermometer into meaty part of a thigh, making sure not to touch bone. Bake at 375° for 1 hour or until thermometer registers 180°. Remove twine.

Maple-Glazed Winter Squash
If you are serving the squash with the Rosemary-Lemon Cornish Hens with Roasted Potatoes, *you can cook the squash in the same roasting pan. Make sure to arrange the squash on the front of the pan so you can easily brush it with the syrup mixture when you open the oven door.

1 (1 3/4-pound) butternut squash
Cooking spray
4 teaspoons maple syrup, divided
1 teaspoon butter, divided

Preheat oven to 375°. Cut squash 1 inch above bulb; save stem section for another use. Cut bulb in half lengthwise. Remove and discard seeds and membranes. Place squash halves, cut sides up, on a broiler pan; place 2 teaspoons maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon butter in each squash half. Bake at 375° for 1 hour or until the squash is tender, brushing cut sides with syrup mixture every 20 minutes.
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You're probably familiar with Chicken w 40 cloves of garlic. A recipe I like (may still be on the web) includes artichokes and wine. You may be able to google/yahoo the recipe.

Answer 9

Solution - Cook chicken in one pan(whatever method you like). Cook root veggies in seperate pan(brush with olive oil or butter and herbs of your choosing). Lastly combine juices from both pans to make a wonderful sauce and thicken with corn starch or flour. Bon Apetit. Relax and Enjoy.

Answer 10

Sounds great and a natural chemical free dish. I only wish I had the patience to cook it. I instead depend on the kindness of strangers who invite me to home cooked meals. I only cook quick easy meals since I live alone.