Rosemary Roasted Chicken With Red Grapes
For best results, allow the chicken to rest on the counter 30 minutes prior to starting the recipe. A too-cold chicken going into a hot oven will render uneven cooking throughout. If trussing the chicken, you’ll need kitchen twine. There are videos on Youtube with trussing how-tos if you are unsure how to truss a chicken. Or you can simply tie the legs together.
Makes 6-8 servings
FOR THE COMPOUND BUTTER:
3 tablespoons butter, 11⁄2 tablespoons finely room temperature chopped fresh
11⁄2 teaspoons sea rosemary salt 1 clove garlic, minced 1⁄4 teaspoon ground Zest from one cumin medium lemon
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper
FOR THE GRAPES: 11⁄2 pounds red seedless grapes 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt 11⁄2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
FOR THE CHICKEN: 41⁄2-to-5-pound chicken, removed from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to starting recipe 1⁄2 of a lemon
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Place your oven-safe skillet on the kitchen twine. Massage the remaining middle rack of your oven; preheat oven to butter all over the chicken.
450 degrees.
Carefully pull the hot pan out of the Make the compound butter by placing oven and onto the stove. Lay the chicken all the ingredients in a small bowl and in the center (chicken will sizzle) and stirring well to incorporate; set aside. surround the chicken with the grapes,
making sure to scrape out the olive oil Rinse the grapes, shaking off excess water, then place in a bowl. Drizzle the and mint from the bowl with a rubber olive oil and vinegar over the grapes. spatula. Return skillet to the oven and Sprinkle with the salt and the chopped roast for 70-80 minutes, until the temperature mint; toss to coat and set aside. in the thickest part of the leg
reaches 162 degrees. Remove the chicken Rinse then pat the chicken dry, including from the oven. It will continue to cook the cavity, with several sheets of paper and will hit the 165-degree safe zone while towels. Place the chicken on a work surface resting. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes with the cavity facing you. Carefully slide before carving. two fingers between the skin and breast meat to create pockets to fill with the Serve the chicken with the grapes and compound butter, taking care not to tear some of the pan juices on the side. Brown the skin. Massage a quarter of the butter rice, green beans, broccoli or a green directly onto each breast under the skin. salad make excellent sides.
Slice the lemon in half and place both Debone the completely cooled leftover halves into the chicken’s cavity along with chicken before storing it in the refrigerator. the two sprigs of rosemary. Truss the Save the carcass to make a killer chicken or tie the legs together with homemade bone broth.
Recipe is copyrighted by Anita L. Arambula from Confessions of a Foodie. Reprinted by permission.