Sunday Football and Roast Chicken

I receive weekly emails from Williams Sonoma and in their last email was an offer to sign up for their Sous Chef series of recipes. This week's recipe was from Chef James Tracey who is the sous chef of Tom Colicchio's Craft Restaurant in New York. The recipe is Roast Chicken with Seasonal Vegetables.

The recipe called for a 4 pound chicken which was stuffed with rosemary, thyme, sage, and whole garlic cloves. The entire bird was seasoned generously with salt and pepper and trussed to hold its shape. In a roast pan on the stovetop, the chicken was seared on both sides (legs and thighs) until golden brown. The chicken came out of the roasting pan and was set aside.

In the same roast pan the following chopped vegetables were added, turnips, carrots, rutabaga, cipollini onions, and halved brussels sprouts and allowed to cook for about 8 minutes. The seared chicken went back into the roasting pan along with the vegetables and the pan got 4 tablespoons of butter added. The pan went in a 350 degree oven to roast, basting the chicken every 15 minutes for an hour. The recipe said to test for doneness by piercing the thigh with a knife to be sure the juices ran clear. I decided to let it roast for another 15 minutes after an hour and then tested the thigh. The juices ran clear, so I decided it was done. I removed the chicken to a carving board to rest for 10 minutes tented with foil.

Meanwhile, the roasted vegetables went on the stovetop burner along with two of the cloves of garlic that were originally stuffed in the bird and cooked over high heat until the liquid reduced and formed a glaze over the vegetables.

When the vegetables were done and Gerry went to carve the chicken, we realized the chicken was not cooked enough. We decided to put the entire roast pan with the vegetables and chicken back in an 400 degree oven for another 25 minutes. When the chicken was done this time, we let it rest again and I again cooked down the vegatables in the roast pan to glaze them.

Our chicken turned out just fine and the vegetables were wonderful (I loved the combination of vegetables). The oven temp and timing on this recipe makes me wonder if a professional oven cooks a lot hotter than the typical home oven. I can only assume this is what would account for the difference in having the chicken completely cooked. It will be interesting to see what next week's recipe will bring.