Roasted Chicken – Pig n' Pie – Food recipes and adventures

Nigella Lawson buttermilk roast chicken — Chicken dinner for the WIN

This recipe, which we sourced from Nigella Lawson, has made its way around the web a bit. You can find a version from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. Martha makes a similar recipe with just two additional ingredients – lemon zest and fresh dill. It’s a tried and true recipe that is welcome to a little tinkering. And like Romeo and Juliet or Jay-Z and Beyonce, buttermilk and chicken are an illustrious couple, most famous of course for the wondrous results of frying buttermilk brined chicken. Buttermilk is such an amazing marinade because it not only imbues flavor, but its acidic composition also tenderizes the meat – double win!! As long as you can remember to whip together this super simple marinade the night before, this chicken recipe comes together real quick and yields flavorful, tender meat with salty, crispy skin. Enjoy with a green salad and some bread to sop up the chicken juices. You’ll feel like you’re seriously spoiling yourself for a weekday dinner.

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken bone-in thighs (or a mix of thighs, drumsticks, wings – important to have bone-in chicken, whatever you choose!)
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup + 2 TBS veggie oil (we used canola)
1 TBS freshly ground black pepper
1 TBS sea salt
2 TBS freshly chopped rosemary
1 TBS honey
2 cloves peeled and crushed garlic + garlic cloves with skin on for roasting (optional)

Directions:

The night before, marinate yo chicken! Place chicken in a large freezer bag. Add buttermilk, 1/4 cup oil, salt, crushed garlic, rosemary, and honey. Seal bag securely, mix contents around, and store in your fridge. Chicken can be marinated for up to 2 days.
Remove chicken from marinade and place on rack so excess can drip off. Try to let your chicken rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, or an hour ideally. This will allow your chicken to dry off a bit and come to room temperature, which ensures even cooking and crispiness.
Preheat oven to 425°F. We opted to cook our chicken in our cast iron skillet, but you can also cook on a tinfoil lined roasting pan (tinfoil makes for easy cleanup). Drizzle chicken with 2 TBS of oil. Sprinkle with a bit more sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. Throw the couple cloves of garlic in the skillet as well, if you’d like (they turn soft and are great spread over a slice of bread). Place in oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until when chicken is pierced the juices run clear.
Remove from oven and let rest for about 5 minutes. Then enjoy immediately!

Details: Serves 4-ish. Maybe we’re gluttons, but we have a hard time eating just a single chicken thigh per person.

Brined roast chicken Melissa Clark recipe — The ~ perfect ~ sunday night dinner

Roasted chicken. It’s a classic dish. But what recipe to choose? It’s all over the web, in every cookbook. There’s a plethora of tips, an abundance of varieties. The options are endless! Luke and I initially made your typical roast chicken – lemon and garlic in the cavity, salt and pepper, yada yada yada. But then NYT Food posted a new Melissa Clark video – Feta-Brined Roast Chicken. Of course we had to try it. Melissa makes just a few modifications to the usual recipe. The result: a roast chicken with all its wonderful traditional characteristics, but a nuance of newfangled taste.

One important lesson we’ve learned from Melissa’s recipe:

Brining makes everything better!!

You’ll find that this recipe produces an especially moist and flavorful chicken with extra crispy skin.

Ingredients:

1 3.5-4 lb whole chicken
2 oz feta (plus about 2 oz more if you’d like to add to the pan drippings at the end of cooking)
4-6 cups water
2 tsp salt (brine) + 1 1/2 tsp salt (dry rub)
1-2 TBS freshly ground black pepper
2 TBS dried oregano
2 large lemons
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

Brine the chicken: Do this the night before serving or morning of (brine for at least 8 hours, up to 36 hours). In a blender, combine water, 2 tsp salt, and 2 oz feta and blend until smooth. But your chicken in an extra-large resealable plastic bag or container and cover with feta-brine. Add extra water to fully submerge chicken if necessary.
Prep chicken to cook: Remove chicken from the brine, pat dry, and let rest for about 1 hour so that it reaches room temperature.
Make dry rub and dress chicken: Combine 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1-2 TBS black pepper (we tend towards 1 TBS), 2 TBS oregano, and zest of 2 lemons. Rub all over the bird and in the cavity. Do not skimp on rub!! Cut one lemon into quarters and place into the cavity. Truss the chicken.
Cook: Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a large, oven proof skillet (cast iron pan) over high heat. Once heated, add oil. Place chicken breast-side up (legs in the air!). Transfer entire pan to the oven. Cook for 50 minutes – 1 hour, basting once or twice. To test if finished, pierce chicken with a knife. If juices run clear the chicken is ready!*
Remove chicken from oven. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing (check out this video for carving instruction). Add some feta and juice of 1 lemon to the pan drippings to make a simple sauce. Enjoy with a baguette and green salad!

Details: Serves 4 (Luke and I love using the leftovers for chicken salads).

*Note 1: Another way to test doneness is with a meat thermometer. Chicken is finished when the internal temperature reaches 150 – 160°F.

To print the recipe, click here: Feta-Brined Roast Chicken