Mary's Chicken

Friday night came around this week and I was so ready to do absolutely nothing. However, my mother asked me to make Shabbat dinner and a few minutes later Daniel wanted to come over so I had to scratch my plans of lethargy and whip up some gourmet meal. Well, a few weeks ago, my mom called me and told me a 15 minute story about this "Mary's Chicken" her boss had made for dinner the night before. About 3 minutes into the story of the preparation I started drooling. It's smothered in fresh herbs and butter and garlic, roasted in a cast-iron skillet, and has the crunchiest skin I've ever had. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW WHILE COOKING! You MUST use a cast-iron skillet. If you don't have one, go to the hardware store and buy one because this truly is the BEST roasted chicken you will ever have. Nowhere did I say that it is on the healthy side, but it is totally on the delicious side. It's super simple to make and if you're looking to cook a meal for the first time for someone or even for a party go with this. You must buy a GOOD QUALITY full chicken. Whole Foods has the exact one, Mary's Free Range Air Chilled Chicken. It's never frozen and all of the nasty insides are removed for you and placed nicely into a bag (Eliot made a delicious gravy with it). I served these along with roasted potatoes and green beans and it was a perfect Friday night dinner. 

What you'll need:

1 whole chicken

1 stick salted butter, at room temperature

2 tbs. fresh rosemary

1 tsp. fresh thyme

6 cloves of garlic

1 cast-iron skillet

1. Preheat the oven WITH THE SKILLET IN IT to 425. Let the skillet heat for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, blend together the butter, rosemary, garlic, and thyme. Process until it is a smooth paste-like consistency. 

3. Rinse and throughly dry your chicken. Smother completely with the butter ALL OVER! Leave no inch untouched!

4. Place the chicken DIRECTLY into the skillet (USE GLOVES!!! IT'LL BE HOT HOT HOT!).

5. Cook for anywhere from 40-60 minutes (depending on your specific oven). Every 10 minutes, baste the chicken. 

6. Once it's golden and crunchy all over, remove from the oven and let it rest (keeping it in the hot skillet will let it keep cooking from the bottom so it won't burn and the juices will stay inside the chicken).

7. Carve and serve!

enjoy :)