The first time I had a truly amazing roast chicken was when I visited my friend in Portland, Maine. We had dinner at a local restaurant where the chef served half of a roasted chicken over bread in a cast iron skillet. I don’t remember too much about the surroundings or the other dishes that were served. I just remembered how delicious the bread was after being cooked with the chicken. The bread seemed to have soaked up some of the juices from the chicken and was absolutely delightful.
I attempted to recreate the same technique of roast chicken over crusty bread for my anniversary dinner celebration with Kevin. It took a couple of trials over the years, but I finally recreated a truly simple roast chicken served over crusty bread in a cast iron skillet. I added in a grilled lemon for additional flavor.
Roast Chicken with Grilled Lemon Over Toasted Baguette:
· 5½ pound whole chicken, rinsed and innards removed
· 2 teaspoons kosher salt
· 2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
· 1 lemon, zested and sliced in half
· 1 baguette, sliced diagonally into ½ inch pieces
· Cast iron pan
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425°F.
2) Heat a cast iron pan on medium heat. Add unsalted butter to the pan. Toast the baguette slices in one layer of the cast iron pan until browned, about 2-3 minutes. Flip bread over and toast the other side for another 2-3 minutes. Move the bread to one side of the pan and grill the lemon halves for about 2-3 minutes. Remove the lemon and arrange the bread back in a single layer on the pan.
3) Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and lemon zest all over the whole chicken. Insert the lemon halves into the cavity of the chicken. Lay the whole chicken over the bread. Truss the ends of the chicken with oven safe twine by looping the twine over the drumsticks and tying the strings in a bow.
4) Place the cast iron pan in the preheated oven. Roast chicken for an hour and 15 minutes. Turn off the heat in oven and let the chicken rest in the oven for another 15 minutes before removing. Once removed, let the chicken rest for another 30 minutes before serving.
Takeaways: The roasted chicken was a simple, yet visually stunning dish. We could not finish the whole roasted chicken and saved more than half of the chicken. The best part of leftover roast chicken is the endless ways to serve the chicken the next day. This time, I shredded some of the chicken to use for ginger chicken congee the next day.