Butterflied chicken with roasted vegetables

This succulent dish is very easy to make and will certainly impress your woman. As it does take a little while to cook you might as well open a bottle of Jean Jean Syrah rose and give the Lost Fingers CD a listen.

 

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

Pesto

2 whole bulbs of garlic

10-12 fingerling or baby potatoes

1-2 bulbs of fennel

7-8 fresh carrots

3 sweet potatoes (yams)

7-8 parsnips

Olive oil

Rose wine, chilled

 

 

Pour yourself a glass of wine and take a sip before you get your hands dirty!

 

Cut the leafs of the carrots and scrub lightly.

Peel the parsnips.

Cut the leafy top of the fennel and cut in quarters.

Scrub the potatoes. No need to peel them; isn’t that great !?

Peel and quarter the sweet potatoes.

Cut the top off the garlic just enough to expose the cloves

Coat veggies with olive oil

 

 

This is a good time to refill your glass before you start handling the raw chicken.

 

With a sharp chef’s knife, cut down the back to butterfly the chicken.

Lay the chicken flat and press down to crack the ribs.

Make small slits in the skin of the thighs and breast being careful not to cut into the meat.

Spoon pesto into the slits and spread evenly over the meat using your index finger. Don’t enjoy yourself too much now….!

 

 

Lay the veggies on a large cookie sheet and season with salt and pepper.

Lay the chicken on top of the veggies.

Cover with foil and cook in oven preheated at 350F for approx. 90 minutes.

Uncover and continue cooking for another 30 minutes.

Chicken will be done when juices from the thigh meat run clear or when the leg falls easily apart at the joint. Can also be done on the BBQ using the indirect heat method and use smoking chips in the last 30 minutes.

 

Photograph credit: special thanks to Erin Todd for her great pics!

Comments

[D2]

I hate to inform you Urbane Lion, but that chicken is dead...your attempts at CPR are null and void. :D

[Urbane Lion]

D2: for the sake of decency I haven't posted the pics of my hand inside the chicken's derriere doing my flimsy attempt at pupettering. I guess you now know better than to drown in my presence! ;-)

[Mom]

Très beau site. Je vais essayer la recette sans faire le CPR.

[Al at 7P]

The picture of the final dish looks awesome. It also has pesto? I ate dinner before reading this post, but I'm hungry again.

[Urbane Lion]

Al: Yes it does. Putting the pesto between the skin and the meat prevents it from burning. This is a very aromatic dish and the taste of the roasted garlic, pesto and chicken is absolutly awesome. And... so easy to prepare!