The Secret to the Best Roast Chicken
Just in at Summerhill: whole pasture-raised chickens from a community of Ontario Mennonite farmers. Raised outdoors on pasture, these chickens develop rich, wonderfully pronounced flavour and naturally yellow fat from a diet rich in beta-carotene. Chicken, the way it’s supposed to taste.
And when you start with a chicken this good, you don’t need to do too much to it.
Our Herb Roasted Chicken (recipe below) keeps things beautifully simple. Butter is mixed with plenty of fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, then tucked underneath the skin and inside the cavity so all that flavour works its way into the chicken as it roasts. The remaining herb butter goes over the outside for beautifully golden skin.
Let it rest before carving and serve with roast potatoes or seasonal vegetables. Sunday dinner doesn’t get much better.
Herb Roasted Chicken
1 whole Summerhill Ontario Pasture-Raised Chicken
1 cup Summerhill Sea Salted Butter
2 cups fresh herbs, finely chopped (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Pat chicken dry and place in roasting pan. In a mixing bowl, melt butter and stir in herbs, salt and pepper. Place ¾ of herb butter under skin and inside cavity of chicken. Pour remaining herb butter over outside of chicken.
Roast 40 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and roast another 25 minutes, or until thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast reads 165°F. Remove from oven and let rest 10–15 minutes before carving.
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