The Comforts of a Roast Chicken

The Magical Roast Chicken - With Oranges!

I have said this before, but there is something quite special about a roast chicken (see also, The Magical Roast Chicken, 10/2006 archive, http://www.chefs-in-the-city.blogspot.com).  A roast chicken can be as simple or as decadent as you wish, but one thing is for sure, you can never take away its humility. It seems funny calling a chicken humble, or at least calling its traditional method of preparation humble, but a roast chicken is my ultimate comfort food. A roast chicken has a way of calming me; fond memories are resurrected with its smells and flavors, and it often seems like a bad day can be turned into a good day with a simple bite into its crispy herbed skin.

So much can be written about the magical roast chicken – most of which I will save for other postings. I do want to mention that Julia Child praised a good roast chicken and now that I am living in her birthplace of Pasadena, I find it difficult to not think about her young life here, especially as her grandparents’ path to Pasadena was much like my ancestors journey across this country to California. I want to devote a lot of this blog to her, of course many others have, but I find the irony remarkable that our lives while generations apart have someone crossed paths.

But, alas, the humble roast chicken! Even though my husband and I have had so many good changes happen so quickly in our lives recently, it is easy to get sidetracked by some of the difficulties we now face. I was a bit bummed out the other day, mostly because I am still unemployed, and decided that we needed a comforting dinner, one that would take my mind off of life’s stresses. Turning to the dish that comforts me the most, I roasted a chicken – a citrusy chicken because after all, from apples to oranges…

The inspiration for my orange-infused roast chicken came easily. If lemon and chicken pair together so well, why wouldn’t oranges and chicken? With that, I began by thoroughly washing a whole chicken and patting it dry with a paper towel. I placed the whole chicken in a greased roasting plan, along with some nice roasting vegetables of carrots and onions. I then thinly sliced a few pieces of orange and slid the slices under the chicken’s skin. I wanted the oranges to not only infuse flavor into the chicken, but also keep the meat moist. I then rubbed butter over the top of my chicken, seasoned it with salt, pepper and thyme, and then juiced half of an orange over my chicken. I cut the remaining orange into wedges, placed a few of the wedges in the chicken’s cavity, and left the other wedges to roast in the pan with the carrots and onions. I did add a bit of white wine so there was some liquid in my roasting pan.

While the chicken was roasting (25 minutes a pound on a 325 degree oven), I basted the chicken with melted butter – not too much, but enough to brown the skin and make it crispy! When the chicken was done, it was time to make the gravy, because after all, what’s a roast chicken without the gravy? Keeping within my theme of orange-infused chicken, the base of my gravy was the orange juice and wine that remained in the pan. I added a bit of chicken stock and thickened it with flour. The gravy was light and flavorful and coupled with the orange-flavored meat, the roast chicken smelled and tasted like California. With my first bite, hints of citrus and thyme brought happiness to my mouth and comfort to my day. So while the flavors of my roast chicken may have reflected our new home, its special comfort certainly brought me back to what is home.

Until next time..

Tags: California, citrus roast chicken, comfort dinners, comfort food, how to cook a roast chicken, Julia Child, magical roast chicken, orange stuffed roast chicken, orange-infused chicken, oranges and chicken, Pasadena, roast chicken