28 November 2010

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

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison. Best Blogger Tips

29 comments:

  1. Great with the bucket list. The chicken looks delicious and way to go with the gravy!

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  2. Ooooh! Great comfort food! Chicken with gravy is that "perfect marriage" Val...I love that thyme flavoured gravy too! PS I also love the red curtains on your blog too!

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  3. Roast chicken is the best Sunday dinner! I love thyme with chicken and in the gravy. Yum!

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  4. This is the meal that everyone must love. It is comfort food, as Peter mentioned.

    When, I see a recipe like this, I regret cutting back on meat but we still eat it so I can have my roast chicken.

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  5. Val, this looks stunning. I love roasted chicken!!!

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  6. I'm usually a little bored by gravy but that thyme infusion has piqued my interest! Sounds like some good hearty comfort food.

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  7. I keep adding more and more to my list, faster than I can cross things off. :) This roast chicken sounds great- love the basting sauce for it!

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  8. I could stand to brush up on my gravy making skills. Both of these sound fabulous!

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  9. Hello, this is a gorgeous looking roast and would love to try it out for my Christmas dinner... hope it's ok :)

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  10. We just finished watching the movie "Eat Pray and Love" finally. I had read the book. The movie is very lovely. A great rendition of the novel. I thought of you, of course... it was truly a wonderful movie.
    And now, to your chicken. I never roast a chicken. But, I am changing that. I love roast chicken, so why do I not roast them more often? I really have no answer to that question. After doing the roast chicken pan stew of Michael Smith's which was just getting me back to the roasting of chickens, I find it quite serendipitous that you have posted this... and, as in Eat Pray and Love... nothing is by chance.I will take advantage of the timing, and do this chicken this week. I bought another at the market yesterday.
    :)
    Valerie

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  11. Chicken is always wonderful! That meal must have been just delightful.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  12. The red curtains are my attempt to make things festive around here Peter:D Bring on Christmas!!!

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  13. Val: did I miss something...where does the tarragon fit in.

    This is a lovely chicken and all I want to do is rip the skin off...

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  14. I had to do a double take to make sure that tarragon was nowhere in the recipe Norma. The original recipe calls fro tarragon but I am not really a fan and it is hard to find this time of year. Does the link sat tarragon?

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  15. I have a roasting chicken in the freezer begging to be on the table. This sounds like a perfect recipe. I'm looking forward to your entire culinary bucket list!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  16. This has such gorgeous color and the basting sauce is not like any other I've come across. You've sorely tempted me :-). I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  17. We've been eating a lot of roast chicken lately. Honestly, does it get any better?

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  18. That looks like the perfect roast chicken! I'll definitely have to give it a try.

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  19. Val, your bucket list idea is inspiring. I like the way you motivate yourself in the kitchen.

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  20. What a beautiful chicken--perfectly roasted and delcious!

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  21. Your bucket list always makes me smile Val. We all have one don't we, whether we realize it or not. Your chicken sounds delicious.

    I think fresh thyme is one of the most delicious and unused herbs around. It grew wild in the Bahamas and they used it in everything, so while we lived there I followed their lead. I am never without my thyme.
    Sam

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  22. Gosh, Val, my bucket list is in a folder an inch thick! I give you great credit for making a dent in yours.
    Nothing better than a roast chicken and the thyme gravy sounds wonderful.

    (I used to love Victoria. Is it still being published? One of the cutest needlepoint projects I did was in their magazine.)

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  23. this is my favorite family meal - bookmarked for my next sunday roast; we are not turkey and ham kind of people for christmas, so i think i'll be doing something like this, which not only tastes good, but looks special

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  24. OMG Valli this look specially yummy!! I love roasted chicken!Nice! gloria

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  25. Ohhh my goodness! That's a perfect sunday night dinner. I wanna come home from a cold winter day and eat THAT!

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  26. Val this is such a great chicken. Most smell great in the house. Can't wait for the rest of the list :)

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  27. i'm a little confused by the recipe, but by golly, i'm sure it's fantastic. i love thyme and i love gravy, and there's something about a whole roasted chicken that just makes me happy. :)

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  28. All look delicious Vall, really delicious! have a lovely week end! gloria

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  29. So glad I'm playing catch-up tonight and finding all these great recipes! Roast chickens is a fave dinner of ours in the winter; so homey and delicious.

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Welcome to my home. Thank you for choosing to stay a while and for sharing our lives through food. I appreciate all your support, comments, suggestions, and daily encouragement.

Val

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