Thanksgiving Chicken

One of my favorite foods is a whole chicken, it has so many ways it can be cooked and has a purpose after it has been cooked. I thought I would try cooking a whole chicken the way I did this Thanksgiving turkey. I of course was in charge of the bird this year and I will never let my sister know how terrified I was. I watched cooking channel for 16 hours on my weekend, thank goodness the Seahawks were on a bye-week. I didn't want to brine the turkey and I had already showed my skills and mastery of injecting fowl to my family. So I took a recipe from my new favorite chef Anne Burell and made it fit what I wanted for me and my family.



1 whole chicken, with parts
3 cups of carrots, no need to get fancy here, just rough chop, or use the mini ones like I did
3 cups of celery, same idea as the carrots
7 green onions, reserving 3 for the cavity of the chicken
1 whole shallot, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
1 stick of butter
1 tablespoon of sage
1 tablespoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of rosemary
1 lemon
1 Granny Smith app




There is some preparation to this chicken, so this is not for the faint at heart. Don't be afraid! Live dangerously!! First thing you need to do is take out your stick of butter and let it get to room temperature. Chop sage, thyme, rosemary, take 2 of the 6 garlic cloves, mince finely, sprinkle some salt and drizzle a little oil on the chopped cloves smash it with your knife and run the chopped garlic back and forth with the flat part of the knife till they are completely crushed, grate a teaspoon of the lemon rind into the butter, then squeeze some of the lemon juice to flavor it even further. Put this in the butter and mix...do this well in advanced so that it has time to flavor the butter...try to do this at least 2 hours before dressing the bird. Put back into the fridge to get  a bit solid.

Preheat oven 350 degrees, bring the chicken out of the fridge an hour before cooking to come to room temperature. To butter rub a bird you need to get in between the skin and the meat, this is a delicate process. This needs to be done with some finesse ...start with the breast...using your fingers separate the skin from the meat working your way down...do not try to separate both breasts of the chicken in one swoop...they need individual attention....so repeat on the other side, work the butter down to the leg and the thigh...flip and repeat on the back part of the chicken. In the cavity of the chicken put half of the granny smith apple, lemon, 2 cloves of garlic, and the left over green onions. In the pan your planning to cook this magnificent bird in, layer the bottom with all the veggies from above...on top of that include the pieces and parts from inside the chicken that we usually throw way, this will make for some fantastic stock later on. Set rubbed chicken on top of this mountain of flavor and put in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes or so...internal temperature should be 165 degrees. Once this is done..don't be in a rush to cut the chicken open, let it rest for 15 minutes and finish up all the lovely sides you plan for this.