Roast Chicken With All Of The Garlic

My mother has these things called Shoulds. You should always go for a swim once a day in the summer. You should always order the burger. My personal favorite? You should always roast a chicken once a week. 

Mom says you should always stuff the cavity of that chicken with a lemon or head of garlic or both. Eating it is a ritual in our house. While my dad tries to carve it, she and I reach over him to steal the oysters, those tender spots that live in the backbone and soak up all the butter. "Cook's treat!" we cheers, whether or not we are the cooks responsible. She puts a little white wine or stock in the pan. We diverge at this point as I like a crispier skin.

I roast a bird most weekends. Out of habit, out of comfort, or due to the fact that as "boring" as chicken might sound, a well seasoned, properly roasted chicken is anything-but-boring. I've had friends specifically request this dish when coming to dinner and I think it's because there's something about a roast that reads as generous or fancy. But the damnable truth? I may aspire to cook from a place of generosity but simplicity and ease is my M.O.

I know you might push back here on the amount of garlic, but trust me. Making a tidy confit out of the schmaltz very near candies the garlic cloves, transforming their pungency and heat into something deeply mellow and savory. Not a garlic stan? Toss into the pan some carrots or parsnip, or thinly sliced sweet potato. Just make sure, no matter what, you don't waste all that lovely schmaltz. This take is loosely inspired by one of my favorite cookbooks: Living And Eating by John Pawson and Annie Bell. In it, the chicken is roasted with 4 heads of garlic. Here, you'll only need about 3! Ha. So make yourself a Negroni, grab a friendly volunteer and get peeling! The rest is easy. Make sure you have some crusty bread alongside for seriving, the better to eat all those carmelized garlic cloves with. Oh! One last thing: aim for a bird between 3 1/2-4lbs when shopping. This is the Goldilocks ratio. Any bigger and it won't be as flavorful or tender; any smaller and you run the risk of drying it out. I can hear my mother groaning in disagreement on this because a bigger chicken means more leftovers, to which I say "Sorry, Mom!"

Roast Chicken With All Of The Garlic

Ingredients: 

3 Heads of Garlic
1 3 1/2-4 lb Chicken
1 1/2 Stick of Butter (4 Tbs), room temperature
1 lemon, halved
1 Tbs kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pat the chicken dry inside and out with paper towels. This is the only way to achieve the desirable crispy skin! Season the chicken inside and out with kosher salt. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 60 minutes or up to 24 hrs. 
2. Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees Fahrenheit. 
3. To get a head start on peeling the garlic, slice the bottoms and tops of all 3 heads. From here, you should be able to pretty easily separate the cloves and peel them. Stuff the cavity with a big handful of the peeled garlic cloves and the lemon halves. Tuck the wing tips under the bird if you like. Rub the softened butter all over the chicken's skin on both sides. You can truss the chicken quite easily here, just cross the legs all lady-like and tie together with a 4 inch piece of baker's twine. It's also not the end of the world if you don't have this. Sometimes we get too hung up on the trussing but honestly? You've already brined the chicken on the kitchen counter. You're doing a good job. 
4. Place the chicken into the skillet, breast side facing up. Sprinkle with more kosher salt on top and a few grinds of fresh black pepper and into the oven it goes!
5. Roast the chicken for 30 minutes. By this point the skin will have released a fair amount of fat. Add the remaining garlic cloves to the pan. The plan is to confit them in this schmaltz so if you're lacking in fat, you can add a little olive oil into the pan to help keep things moving. Roast another 25 minutes.
6. The chicken is ready when a knife tip test between the thickest part of the leg joints runs clear. The skin should be very golden and crisp. Remove from oven and allow to rest at least 30 minutes before carving. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread to soak up all that amazing garlic and oil!

Serves 4.