Roast Chicken with Thyme Gravy for My Bucket List Dinner Challenge

 

Roast Chicken with Thyme Gravy

Welcome back for round two of my latest personal challenge where I "knock out" another dish from my bucket list. As you know I love to create a menu around an ingredient, an idea or a theme. If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find in your culinary exploration. With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and are back on track and I am once again inspired. With the holidays coming this is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!



For the next week or so I am sharing with you recipes I have created a menu from beginning to end.. from starters to dessert... from my "bucket list". We all have a bucket list of recipes we want to try from magazines, cookbooks, our blogging friends or wherever you find your inspiration. We started off with an hors d'oeuvres that made our tastebuds sing with citrus notes...Crab Cake Sliders with Lemon Remoulade.

Next we move on to the "piece de resistance"!! This chicken recipe is my favourite way with a chicken and one that I have made for years. I first added it to a cookbook I created for L'il Burnt Toast when she was headed off to university. This was way before I even heard about blogging!! I found the recipe in a back issue of Victoria magazine way back when. Why is it in your bucket list you ask if you have made it before? Well.... I have yet to share it with you which spirals it to the top of my bucket list!!!I paired the roasted chicken with some simple sides that I will share with you the next time. Enjoy!

What is in your bucket list?

**Roast Chicken with Thyme Gravy**

Herb Basting Sauce:

3 cups chicken broth
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Roast Chicken:

5 – 6 lb roasting chicken
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut in 2 x ¼ -inch sticks
2 medium stalks celery, cut in 2 x ¼-inch sticks
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut up

Tarragon Pan Gravy:

Chicken broth
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup flour
salt and pepper to taste

 In medium bowl, combine 3 cups broth, wine vinegar, thyme, sugar, and black pepper. Stir until blended. Set aside.

To make roast chicken: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove giblets from chicken and use another time. Rinse chicken inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels.

 Rub chicken cavity with some of the basting sauce. Stuff cavity with a few of the carrots, celery and onion mixed with 1 T butter. Reserve remaining vegetables.

Arrange chicken in shallow roasting pan. Spoon some of the basting sauce generously over the chicken. Cover cavity of the bird lightly with a small piece of foil.

 Roast chicken at 375 degrees F for 1 –3/4 to 2-1/4 hours, basting every 20 minutes with sauce.

Occasionally remove foil and spoon some sauce over vegetables in chicken cavity. (Be sure to use all basting sauce). Add reserved vegetables to pan juices around the chicken during the last 1 hour of roasting time, basting vegetables every 20 minutes. When chicken is done, a thermometer inserted between leg and thigh should register 185 degrees F and centre of stuffing must be at least 165 degrees G.

 Remove chicken to warm platter, reserving pan juices. Cover chicken with foil to keep warm.

To make ThymeGravy: Remove vegetables from roasting pan with slotted spoon. Cover to keep warm.

 Drain juices from roasting pan into 1-quart measure. Skim off fat. Add enough chicken broth to make 3 cups pan juices. Set aside.

Melt 4 T butter in roasting pan set over 2 burners on medium heat. Stir in flour until blended and smooth. Gradually whisk in reserved pan juices. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Whisk in salt and pepper to taste. Strain gravy, if desired. Pour into serving dish.

To serve: Slice chicken and arrange on serving platter with vegetables. Serve gravy with chicken.

Serves 8

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