Friday, March 26, 2010

Ad Hoc Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables


Nearly every week in the cool-weather months - and frequently when it's warmer too - I will roast a chicken or whole turkey breast. I never tire of the flavors of beautifully-browned poultry fresh from the oven. Having leftover meat for other recipes and bones to make homemade stock only compound the pleasure from preparing a simple (usually) roast fowl. On a chilly weekend recently I turned to Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home cookbook and prepared his Roast Chicken on a Bed of Root Vegetables.


noe's notes:

- A close adaptation of the recipe can be found on Simply Recipes, along with a lovely blog post about this chicken. (I included the leeks in my chicken, and was glad I did.)

- I had never removed the wishbone from a raw chicken but found it was very easy. The wishbone is the first bone that you come to in the cavity, and you can feel the shape of it through the meat. You just free it with a paring knife and snap it off.

- Keller, as is his wont, is very specific about the number and size of root vegetables to use (3 medium rutabagas, 2 medium turnips, 4 large carrots, 8 small new potatoes). I skipped the potatoes, and used the root vegetables that were in my fridge: 4 rutabagas of assorted sizes, 1 very large turnip, 2 parsnips, 3 carrots

- Rather than a cast iron skillet (I was too lazy to get it from the downstairs pot-and-pan overflow storage) I used my shallow enameled cast iron 3 qt pot.

- If you have an instant read digital thermometer, it takes the guesswork out of determining if the chicken is cooked sufficiently.


the verdict:

This roast chicken made for a perfect Sunday dinner; I loved the roasted root vegetables that were cooked in the same pot, although my husband wasn't as thrilled with them as I was. As far as the chicken itself: the taste didn't beat Thomas Keller's ultra-simple roast chicken from his Bouchon restaurant (my favorite roast chicken, which I blogged here), but it's a great cold weather dish when root vegetables are plentiful.

7 comments:

Deb in Hawaii said...

Gorgeous chicken--you got some good color. Loving all the roasted veggies too.

mike said...

Ok, I've heard so much about this book... and judging by the beautiness (is that a word?) of you chicken, I must add it to my collection. I love roasted vegetables all year long - but need to add a chicken during the summer as well. Beautiful! (that IS a word).

margot said...

Great job on the chicken. When I (finally!) got my copy of AHAH, this is the first thing I made and agree that it was very good. Our favorite is the Zuni Cafe Cookbook roast chicken, though.

Anonymous said...

i love roasting a whole chicken - am going to try the one from ad hoc this weekend!

Leslie said...

Nancy, if I took a chicken that looked that good out of the oven I would have cried and might not have allowed anyone to eat it! I haven't tried the Bouchon recipe yet (nor this one) so I'll try Bouchon first (and then maybe Zuni based on Margot's recommendation).

Kayte said...

I love this bird...we never get tired of a roasted chicken here. Used to be that I would have leftovers for other things, but no longer, as the guys can pretty much put away a whole chicken, so I need to make two if I want leftovers! This book is on my Christmas Wish List. Everything I see and hear from you about all the recipes so far has been a great recommendation.

Charli said...

I'm such a sucker for a good roast chicken too. Yours looks great!