In my Sunday morning post where I describe making this dish from Michel Guérard’s newest book (with French TV presenter Julia Andrieu), I made a one-person meal with a ¼ of a chicken. This recipe adapted from the book  “Comment briller aux fourneaux sans savoir faire cuire un oeuf” is for a whole roast chicken to serve 4-6 people. The size of the chicken will affect the final cooking time; my quarter  bird was done perfectly in 60 minutes, a whole bird might take closer to 90 minutes. If you throw in some potatoes as it cooks, you can serve the pan juices over them as a side. At any case, there is ample time once the chicken is in the oven to complete the rest of the meal- a simple starter and a dessert.

*I have made a few changes as my kitchen dictates- cooking with what’s at hand meant I had no mushrooms so easily eliminated them from the original recipe.

Poulet/Chicken

1 farm chicken for roasting- 1.5 kilo/ 3-4 lbs- Make it a meaty bird who saw the sun rose over corn fields, and heard the owl sing at night.

A fat handful of fresh herbs from the garden (about 1.5-2 cups chopped): tarragon, flat parsley, chives (you could also use some fennel, savory, basil and onion tops like I did)

70 g/ 2.5 oz  unsalted butter- room temperature

2 tablespoon shallots, minced

½ garlic clove, minced- not much I know but this isn’t garlic chicken!

50 g/ 1 slice smoked bacon- chopped finely

50 g/ 2 tablespoons crème fraiche

Juice of one lemon

8 gr.  salt- ( taste in case your bacon is very salty)

2 gr pepper

For pan juices:

1 shallot

10 gr/ 2 teaspoons butter,

shot glass sherry vinegar

2 tablespoons cream

1. Preheat the oven to 160’C/ 325′F- cook the chicken at a lower temp will prevent the skin from cracking
2. Blanch the fresh herbs for 30 seconds in boiling salted water. Remove, plunge in ice water and then drain. Once drained, chop finely.
3. Soften shallots and garlic in a bit of the butter over a medium heat. Do not brown, remove from heat.
4. Add the shallots and garlic to chopped herbs and add the remaining butter, and chopped bacon, crème fraiche and lemon juice. Mix well with a heavy wooden spoon, your hands, or mixer. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Carefully and gently loosen the skin of the chicken by passing your hand between the skin and meat. Don’t forget the legs.
6. Using a pastry bag, glide the herb mixture under the skin, massaging the mixture into an even layer over the entire chicken.
7. Place the chicken on a baking dish, with its liver, gizzard, neck, feet etc underneath it. This will enrich the pan juices. Cook for 1 hour then turn oven up to 400 for last 15 minutes.
8. When cooked through (verify with a meat thermometer), remove the chicken and let rest 15 minutes. Carve into serving pieces, place on a serving plate and keep warm in the now turned off oven while preparing the pan juices. Remove the liver, heart, feet, etc from the pan.
9. To make the pan reduction sauce: Mince one shallot and place in chicken baking pan over a high heat. Add a knob of butter (10g) and sweat the shallots until translucent. Deglaze the pan, stirring up any sticky bits with about a shot glass of sherry vinegar. Add 2 Tablespoons of thick cream. Drizzle this simple reduced sauce over the chicken and serve.