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Chicken with Lemon Salt
Served with potatoes with favas (or peas)
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Serves 4
Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 90 minutes |
- 2 medium new potatoes (about 4 oz. each)
- 4 lbs. fava beans in their pods (or 3 cups fresh or frozen skinned fava beans, or peas)
- 1 bunch flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- 1 bunch rosemary
- 2 lemons, preferably organic
- One 3-1/3 -4 lb. roasting chicken, preferably organic
Shopping List
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Sea salt, coarse (or kosher salt)
Pantry Items
- Chef’s knife
- Heavy skillet
- Kitchen twine
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Medium saucepan
- Paring knife
- Spatula
- Steamer
- Strainer
- Tongs
- Vegetable peeler
- Zester or Microplane
Tools
- Wine: Chianti Ruffina will be perfect with this
- Dessert: Ricotta Tart (Italian Farmhouse Cookbook
, Susan Herrmann Loomis p. 359)
- This menu takes a bit over an hour to prepare and cook, so you may want to make it a weekend menu.
Suggestions
- When you walk in the door
- Don’t’ refrigerate the chicken
- Preheat the oven to 450F
- Get out Pantry Items
- Get out Tools
- Assemble the ingredients
- Open the wine, pour yourself a glass
- Prep
- Rinse the herbs and pat them dry.
- Pluck 1 tbsp. leaves from the rosemary.
- Zest 1 lemon. Cut the lemon in half.
- Mince the lemon zest and the rosemary together and put in a small bowl. Stir in 1 tbsp. coarse sea or kosher salt.
- Squeeze the lemon inside the cavity of the chicken and put the lemon halves inside, along with a couple of rosemary sprigs.
- Truss the chicken and rub it all over with olive oil.
- Rub the salt mixture all over the chicken.
- Put the chicken in the roasting pan.
- Pluck 1/4 cup parsley leaves.
- Start Cooking
- Put the chicken in the center of the oven and roast for 1 hour.
- If you have favas in their pods, shuck them.
- If the water in the saucepan is boiling, add the favas and boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
- Slit each fava down the side, and pop out the bean inside. Discard the skin.
- Peel and dice the potatoes.
- Peel and mince 1 clove garlic.
- Set the table, then you’ll have time for a break. Stay close so you can check on the chicken after about 20 minutes, to be sure it’s cooking evenly.
- To see if the chicken is cooked, stick a sharp knife in the leg/thigh joint and press on it gently. If the juices are golden, it’s roasted. If they are pink, it needs to roast longer.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the oven, flip it over on its breast, and prepare the potatoes and favas.
- Bring about 3-inches water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer. Add the potatoes to the top, cover and steam until they are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Turn the potatoes onto a cotton towel, so they dry.
- Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil with the garlic in the heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook until the garlic is sizzling and begins to turn golden, 2 minutes.
- Take a second while the garlic is cooking to remove the kitchen twine from the chicken.
- Add the potatoes to the pan with the garlic, stir, season with salt and cook until they’re golden on one side, 4-5 minutes. Stir, add the favas (or fresh or frozen peas if you’re using), stir again. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat, check the seasoning, remove the lid.
- Coarsely chop the parsley leaves.
- Carve the chicken into serving pieces and arrange on a platter. Pour any juices over the chicken. Surround with the potatoes and favas. Sprinkle the parsley over the vegetables and serve.
