Roast Chicken with Crunchy Buttery Bread Sauce
Roast Chicken with Crunchy Buttery Bread Sauce
The success of this dish relies on a few things: a well seasoned chicken, dried bread cubes leftover from a good quality sourdough, and a hot roasting oven.
1 whole 3lb Chicken
Olive oil & Kosher Salt, as needed
½ cup Tomato Puree
½ lemon, cut into 4 wedges
2 shallots, each cut into 4-6 wedges
1-2 carrots, cut into ½ inch slices
3 cups bread cubes (1 ½ inch cubes of bread, very dried out)
5 tbsp. unsalted butter or compound butter (see below)
1 cup chicken stock
Preheat oven to 425°F
Rub chicken all over with salt and olive oil (approximately 2 ½ tsp. salt)
Drizzle the bottom of a roasting pan or pot, where everything will fit fairly snug, with olive oil
Dot the bottom with tomato puree, then lay chicken in the middle and surround with lemon, shallot & carrot
Dot with butter pats and pour in chicken stock
Roast for 1 hour or until chicken is golden brown, crisp and done (leg temperature registers 165°F/75°C), or leg is quite loose to wiggle and breast meat is firm to the touch.
Let rest 10-15 minutes, then carve the chicken and serve with all of the delicious bread cube & vegetable saucy goodness.
Don’t forget to make a quick stock out of the carcass. Just add an onion, carrot & celery, a bay leaf or two, cover with cold water and simmer for an hour or two.