Super Chicken

I made the most delicious chicken dinner last night. I unfortunately did not take pictures but would still like to break it down for you.

I usually roast my chicken on a sheet pan, if it is a whole chicken on a metal trivet of some kind. I went to the market to see what looked good. I bought the clean, organic whole chicken for about $14 at Grocery Outlet, roughly twice what you would pay for a "natural" bird.

The organic also is usually much smaller comparatively but hey, that's what my wife wants, that is what she gets.

Instead of using a sheet pan I would bake the chicken in my Le Creuset stoneware casserole dish.  

I cleaned a bunch of Yukon gold potatoes that were giving me the eyeful and after cutting them up I placed them around the sides of the pan.

I patted my hen dry and drizzled the bird with olive oil, then added a rub I had pre-mixed of salt, pepper, garlic salt, rosemary, herbs de Provence, thyme, sweet paprika and Italian seasoning. Oh, and a pinch of cumin.

Made sure both sides were evenly coated and seasoned and plunked her down in the middle of the potatoes. I added four cloves of chopped garlic, light for us but I wanted to go easy on the spice this time as Leslie's tummy has been hurting.

I chopped lemon slices and posed them around the bird. I added about a half cup of chicken broth and poured it around the bottom, maybe a little too much in retrospect.

Sprayed her with duck fat, squeeze of lemon, closed the lid and into a 400° oven for one hour and fifteen minutes, the last four on a quick broil.

Not sure why but I overshot my normal temp of 165°. It was closer to 180° in the breast. But guess what, it didn't matter. This was the moistest chicken breast I have ever cooked. The lidded ceramic keeps all the juices in and nothing gets dried out. Can't remember better. Perfect potatoes too, cooked to tater orgasm in the chicken fat.

You don't get the super crispy skin this way but I will take the tradeoff. Succulent and juicy meat. Definitely going to make it this way again.

Next time I will take a picture.

If you don't have one of these ceramic dishes, I would get one.