For those people that have been reading this blog for a while, you might get a jolt of deja vous. Yep, I have done a Rosemary Roast Chicken recipe before, and it has featured on another site too.

So why again? Well, it is just me really. A new oven.. wanted to give a roast chicken a go in it. As mentioned before, roast chicken is a great love of mine, and I spent some considerable time working out mine and Danika’s favorite roast chicken. That did of course mean eating a fair amount of chickens, but heck – someone has to do it!

So this chicken is what we settled on as our favorite a while back. The great thing is that it is also one of the most simple to prepare and cook. No brining, no funky rub mixtures and stuffing. Just simply a really good quality chicken, trussed, and covered inside and out in salt, pepper, and lots of chopped fresh rosemary.

We are lucky, when we got this house we took over a huge rosemary plant, I could honestly cook 100 of these a week, and the plant would be fine.. it is that big. Suits me though, it smells great, and gives the garden a real aromatic sense when the wind is blowing!

It may seem like you are using a ton of rosemary on this, and that it would completely overpower the bird, but the roasting kicks back a lot of the strong flavor, and just really leaves this mellow essence of rosemary in every piece of chicken that you eat.

If you have never trussed a chicken before, it is worth doing in my opinion. The culinary world is divided here – some people swear by it, other people think it makes the bird cook unevenly. I think it makes it cook more evenly, but still, that could be just me.

So – to truss a bird. There are a lot of different ways to do this. I am pretty mechanical in my method – it isn’t the prettiest around, but it does keep the legs and wings close to the body, which helps to protect the breast when roasting. If you want a pretty decent video demonstration of an attractive way to truss a chicken – check out:

Yep.. that is my first Youtube post on this blog. My method secures the wings much tighter on the bird, which I find helps when moving the bird from board to pan. Too often I have had the wings come out from under the bird in “mid flight” between the board and a hot roasting pan. Always a pain in the.. well, you know.

So, what I do is first put the bird on a board, breast side up. Fold the wings back under the board, so they are between the chicken and board. It might seem like they will snap, but they wont, bend em back there!

Now, cut a piece of string about 4 times the length of your chicken. Pass this under the chicken, at the wing end, making sure the string is under the wings (between the wings and the board), now pull both ends up over the top of the bird, and cross over the breast, so you have essentially looped string around the breast. Now, pass the ends down and under the legs, and then back up at at the other end of the bird, and tie the legs together, crossing them over, and pulling them close in to the bird. Tie this tightly, and you are done.

Confussed? I don’t blame you. I suck, I don’t have any photos of the stages. I should have taken them, but raw chicken hands and cameras aren’t the best. I will try and take a few the next time though (or get a friend to). The Youtube method above however is dead simple, and does a pretty simple job.

And the au jus.. This takes a little time, but is well worth doing. Not a lot of effort to be honest, just a bit of cooking time. It tastes fantastic, very robust, and helps add another dimension to the chicken.

I serve roast chicken with a bunch of different sides. In the summer, I like to serve it with a simple salad of butter lettuce and a simple vinaigrette. In the winter, I like it with roast vegetables. Here, I have paired it with roast parsnips and butternut squash – simply because I had them, and needed to use them up! It all worked together rather well, if I do say so myself.

Rosemary roast chicken, roasted parsnips and butternut squash, chicken au jus

1 small chicken – about 4lb

1qt of chicken stock (you most likely wont use it all)

good sea salt

two handfuls of fresh rosemary, chopped

freshly ground black pepper

3 small carrots – sliced

1/2 onion – sliced

1 leek – sliced, discarding green section

4 sprigs of thyme

2 glasses of dry white wine

1 bay leaf

1/2 a small butternut squash

2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/4 lengthwise

olive oil

Start by turning the oven on to 450. Then take the chicken and wash inside and out. Dry really well using paper towel. Sprinkle the cavity of the bird with salt, pepper, and about 1/3 of the rosemary. Truss the chicken according to directions above. Sprinkle the skin profusely with salt, black pepper, and the rest of the rosemary. The salt will help draw out some of the moisture from the skin, and make it crispy – and of course season the bird.

When the oven is hot, pop a roasting pan in to preheat. When this is hot, take out the pan, put the chicken in it, and put it back in the oven. Let this roast for about 1 hour. To check if it is done, remove the bird from the oven, and take a meat thermometer.. jab this between the fleshy part of the thigh, and the breast, going in about 1.5″. If the temperature reads 165, then the bird is cooked. Check in a few places to make sure. Remove the bird from its roasting pan, putting it onto a cutting board. Cover with foil to keep warm.

I like to use a heavy saute pan for roasting a chicken. It is thicker than any roasting pan I have, meaning heat will stay in it well. The handle is also rather useful for yanking the bird out of the oven one handed.

So, whilst the bird is roasting, lets get cracking on the au jus. Put the onion, carrot, leek, thyme, bay leaf and white wine in a medium saucepan, and get it boiling. When the alcohol smell has gone, and the liquid has reduced by about half, and in about 2 cups of the chicken stock, and a little freshly ground black pepper. Let this simmer for about 40 minutes, until the bird is cooked. Strain the stock mixture, discarding the vegetables and keeping the flavored broth.

Whilst all this is cooking, cut your butternut squash in half, and remove the seeds. Cut this lengthwise into 1/2″ thick slices. Put a small roasting pan in the oven alongside the chicken to get hot. When hot, add some olive oil, and toss in the parsnips and squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and a little thyme if you wish, and roast for about 30 minutes. You want the vegetables to be just soft, and a little crispy.

When you have removed the brid from the oven, pour any juice from its roasting pan into a small cup. Let it separate. The top is a fat layer, we don’t want to use that. The bottom is all that great chicken juice. Using a turkey baster, suck up that chicken juice, being careful not to get any of the fat. Squirt this back into the chicken roasting dish.

Over a medium-high heat, get this pan hot again. The juices should start to bubble. Pour in about 1.5 cups of your flavored stock mixture. Let this bubble away until reduced down by about half. It is a good consistency when it can just coat the back of a spoon. If you need to add more stock because it has boiled too much, do.

When the vegetables are done, remove those from the oven. Carve your chicken. I like to cut off the legs first, then cut the breast off, keeping the wing attached to the breast. Put the vegetables on a plate, and top with a chicken leg and breast. Carefully pour over the au jus. Normally I like to put the jus down first, then everything on top, but for this, you have to let the juice pour down over the chicken.