Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Leeks, and Bacon

I was unaware of time yesterday.  Jim was at the store buying things I forgot the day before for dinner.  Jim’s cousin called and wanted to know if we wanted to go out to dinner.  The recipe I am about to blog; I hadn’t even been started at 6:00, so we went out to dinner.  Today I made the following from April/May Fine Cooking.  I really shouldn’t be looking at this issue yet, as it is still March, but they had roasted chicken and I am a sucker for roasted chicken.  This was under the heading of French Roast, i.e. roasting with a built-in side dish.  We loved the chicken, but I thought the potatoes were too greasy.  Jim loved them.  Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1, 3.5-4# whole chicken

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2T finely chopped fresh parsley plus 4 sprigs

4 dried bay leaves

1 T finely chopped fresh thyme, plus 4 sprigs

4 large leeks, white and light-green parts halved lengthwise, then sliced crosswise int ¾” pieces and rinsed; dark- green parts from 1 leek rinsed and reserved

3 strips thick-cut bacon cut crosswise 3/8” thick

1 T EVOO

2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced

11/2 # potatoes cut crosswise into 1/8” thick rounds

1 ½ C low salt chicken broth

2 T unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

1.      Discard the giblets from the chicken, trim off any excess fat from the cavity and neck, and pat dry with paper towels. 

2.      Generously season the chicken inside and out with 1T salt and ½ t pepper. 

3.      Stuff the cavity with the parsley sprigs, 3 bay leaves, 2 sprigs of thyme, and the dark leek greens.

4.      Tuck the wings behind the neck of the chicken, using the wing tips to secure any loose neck skin.  Tie the legs together with string.  Let rest as room temperature for 20-30 minutes. 

5.      Position rack in the center of the oven and heat to 450 degrees. 

6.      In a 12” ovenproof skillet, cook the bacon in the oil over med-high heat, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown, about 7 minutes.  Leaving the bacon in the pan, spoon out and reserve all but 1 T fat. 

7.      Reduce heat to medium and add the leeks, garlic, and the remaining bay leaf and thyme sprigs, and season lightly with s&p.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes.  Transfer to a plate. 

8.      In the same pan, arrange half of the potatoes in an even layer, season very lightly with s&p, then scatter the leek mixture over the top.  Layer the remaining potatoes over the leeks, and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Pour broth over the vegetables.  (I forget, but it did not seem to make a difference)

9.      Pour 1T of the reserved     bacon fat into the cavity of the chicken.  Rub the softened butter over the bird’s skin and sprinkle with the chopped thyme.

10.  Set the bird breast side up on the vegetables. 

11.  Roast about 1 hour until the thickest part of the thigh registers about 170 degrees

12.  Transfer the chicken to a carving platter and let rest tinted for 15 minutes.  Keep the vegetables warm in the turned off oven.

13.  Sprinkle the potatoes with parsley and serve.  

Watch all the salt and peppering.  I thought the potatoes were too salty.