Happy Monday foodie friends! Remember last month when I bragged talked about how I had mastered the art of roasting chicken. Well, this recipe is still in that vein. You may be saying "Another roasted chicken recipe?" with disdain, but turn that frown upside down! Roasted chicken is one of those dishes that you can make a million different ways. I like to make this dish often, and hope that by showing you several different ways you can make it, you will see that you can easily throw a couple ingredients together and make your own sophisticated dinner winner!
INGREDIENTS
1 whole chicken, neck and other guts removed
2 cups sauerkraut, drained
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
4 potatoes, quartered
Fresh rosemary, 1 Tsp chopped, plus a few whole sprigs
Fresh thyme, 1 Tsp chopped, plus a few whole sprigs
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Olive oil
1/4 cup butter
Salt
Pepper, freshly ground
MAKE IT
Start by pre-heating the oven to 400˚F
Slice your onion and mix in a bowl with the kraut, salt and pepper pretty heavily.
This is going to be your stuffing.
Slice your garlic up and start sautéing it in a little bit of the butter. Once it starts to soften and become aromatic add in the rest of the butter. As that melts quickly chop up your fresh herbs. You want to remove the leaves from the twig and just chop the leaves. Once the butter is melted completely, take the pan off the burner and add the herbs. Let this mixture sit and cool while you prepare your roasting pan.
I used my enameled cast iron Dutch oven for this recipe, but any roasting or baking dish will suffice. Coat the bottom of the pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Toss in your quartered potatoes and salt and pepper them. Toss a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary on top.
Now it's time to stuff the chicken. Your chicken should have sat out coming to room temporary for about an hour. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Remove the stuff inside the chicken. Place the chicken inside the Dutch oven and stuff it with as much of the kraut and onion mixture as you can. Settle chicken int the pan with the breast up.
Now grab that pan of herb butter and baste the chicken with it, pour any leftover butter down on to the potatoes. Top it off with more salt and fresh cracked pepper.
Roast at 400˚F for the first 20 minutes, this is going to crisp up that skin. Then turn the temp down to 350˚F, and continue to cook for about an hour (or until the chicken has an internal temperature of 165˚F).
Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Then carve that baby up!
