Email to Mand      

Roast Chicken with Scarborough Fair Basting Sauce

Source of Recipe

The Starving Musician


Recipe Introduction

It's easy to remember the basting sauce recipe; just like in the Simon and Garfunkel song, it's "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme." This basting sauce is also excellent on turkey. Double the amount for a bird over 12 pounds.

List of Ingredients

For the Chicken and the Chicken Stock:

Nonstick cooking spray, such as Pam
1 4-pound chicken, washed and patted dry, giblets and neck removed from body cavities
2 ribs celery, washed
1 large onion, washed, peeled
2 carrots, washed (optional)
1/2 bunch fresh parsley, washed and patted dry. Finely chop part of it to make 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley for the basting sauce

For the Scarborough Fair Basting Sauce:

1 stick plus 1 Tablespoon butter (salted)
1 dried sage leaf, left whole but with a slit cut in the center with a knife
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, rubbed between the palms of your hands to release the oils
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, rubbed between the palms of your hands to release the oils
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
3 grinds of freshly-ground black pepper



Recipe

In small saucepan over low heat, place butter, herbs and pepper. Melt together, stirring occasionally. You can do this in the microwave, but it tastes better made on the stove over low heat so the essence of the herbs has time to release.

Spray baking pan and rack with nonstick spray. Place rack in pan, and place chicken on rack. Cut each celery rib lengthwise into two pieces, then cut each in half horizontally to make 4 long pieces. Place two smaller pieces inside chicken, toss two in roasting pan, toss the remainder in the saucepan. Repeat with carrot. Cut onion into 8 pieces. Put 1-2 small pieces in chicken and divide the rest between the roasting pan and saucepan. Twist off half of the half bunch of parsley, put it in the chicken. Toss a small sprig in the saucepan, and put rest in the roasting pan. Rub chicken with 1 Tablespoon butter. Grind a couple of grinds of pepper over the chicken and rub in. Set aside and turn on oven to 375F. (Oven rack should be in the center position.)

While oven is heating, place giblets (and neck, if there is one) and reserved parsley stems in saucepan with vegetables. Place on medium heat and sauté until giblets and vegetables begin to sweat and caramelize. Add water to cover, bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Cover and simmer another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain, place in shallow Gladware container, place in fridge (lid will not close until steam evaporates) for another use.

When oven is hot, place chicken in oven, bake for 1/2 hour. Baste with Scarborough Fair sauce. Continue roasting, basting every half hour, for 2-2 1/4 hours or until thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh (not touching bone) registers 190F and juices between thigh and body run clear. Let stand 20 minutes before carving.

*To make a disposable roasting rack, tear off a sheet of foil about 2 feet long. Bunch it together lengthwise to make a loose snake shape. Add another sheet, crimping it onto the foil "snake." Repeat with one last sheet of foil. Loosely coil the snake into an oval shape,securing the center of the circle to the first coil by crimping. Keep coiling until you get a loose oval shape that fits the bottom of the 9x12 baking pan. Secure the last coil by crimping foil. Spray liberally with cooking spray.

**For this recipe, dried herbs are fine (and more economical than fresh). Be sure to use fresh parsley to liven them up. But if you're feeling flush this week, you can use fresh in the following proportions:

2 fresh sage leaves, whole
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary,
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme,
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves (reserve washed stems)
The strength of fresh herbs varies. Start with the smaller amount and increase to taste.

Wine suggestion for date night or when you're feeling more flush: Arrowood 2001 Grand Archer Chardonnay
Sonoma Valley, California.