Recipe reprinted from Bistro Cooking at Home by Gordon Hamersley
This is a labor intensive recipe not for the casual cook. Skip to the bottom for a video of Julia and Gordon making this dish together.
For the marinade:
1 bunch Italian parsley (save 12 leaves for garnish)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
3 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 T. dried herbs de Provence
1 t. dried rosemary
3 T. Dijon mustard
zest of one lemon
2 T. cracked black pepper
6 T. olive oil
For the chicken:
2 chickens, 3 pounds each
2 russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into quarters the long way
1 large Spanish onion, skin on the root trimmed, cut into quarters through the root
3 t. cooking oil
4 ounces rich chicken stock
1 head roasted garlic, cloves separated
1 lemon, half cut into slices and half juiced
1 T. unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
- Combine all the ingredients for the marinade, except the lemon zest, in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until smooth.
- Fold in the lemon zest.
- Wash and dry the chickens. Rub them all over with the marinade, cover, and let them sit in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Season the chickens with salt and pepper, and place them in a roasting pan fitted with a rack.
- Place in the oven.
- Place a cookie sheet with sides in the oven and allow it to get hot.
- Add the cooking oil to the pan and carefully lay the potatoes and the onions to the sheet, cut sides down.
- Season with salt & pepper and roast. The chickens and the vegetables should take 70 minutes to cook. The vegetables are done when they are very tender and brown. The chicken is done when a thermometer registers 165 degrees F.
- When cooked, transfer the chickens to another pan and let them rest for at least 20 minutes.
- Skim the fat from the juices and reserve.
- When the vegetables are done, remove the dry outer leaves of the onion and discard.
- Transfer the onions and potatoes to an ovenproof pan and keep warm.
- Remove the breasts and leg from the bone, leaving on as much skin as possible. Remove the thigh bones by gently twisting and breaking the cartilage at the joint.
- The dish can be prepared to this point an hour in advance of serving.
- Preheat the broth.
- Arrange the chicken pieces, skin side up, in a roasting pan that is shallow enough to fit under the broiler.
- Add the lemon slices, the cooking juices, and 2 ounces of the double chicken stock.
- Set the pan under the broiler and cook until the skin is crisp and the meat is thoroughly heated through. This should take about 8 to 10 minutes. If necessary, rotate the chicken pieces so they crisp evenly.
- While the chickens are getting crisp, reduce the remaining 3 ounces of double chicken stock with the juice of half of a lemon and the garlic cloves in a small saucepan.
- Arrange the chicken, potatoes, and onions on a serving platter.
- Pour the sauce from the roasting pan in to the saucepan with the reducing chicken stock and continue to reduce by half. The sauce should be slightly thickened and lemony in taste.
- Add 1 T. butter to the sauce and stir until incorporated.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour the sauce around the chicken and garnish with parsley leaves.
