Stovetop Roast Chicken with Lemon Gravy
For our first Christmas in the bus I wanted to do a very French menu. It was the cuisine that I was working on at the time, and it just felt like it would be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, everything I read told me that the French love to eat seafood at Christmas, which can be pretty tough for us to do on the road, depending on where we are. At the time, we were camped on the water, but unfortunately that was the water of the Colorado river in the middle of the Arizona desert. Not much seafood to be had there. Fortunately, other French Christmas delights include all manner of game, particularly birds. While a capon does not qualify as a game bird, it is a slightly unusual bird for most audiences.
For those that don’t know, a capon is nothing more than a young rooster. They are a traditional food that is not so often seen anymore, though you can still find them in some grocery stores. Historically, capons were a bit larger, and were eaten for this reason as well as because it does not serve to have too many roosters in one place.
All that said, our modern chickens are bred and fed to be absolutely massive birds, so you do not need to hunt down a capon for this recipe–any whole chicken you pick up at the store will do just fine.
This dish is a stovetop roast bird, with herbs, lemon, and white wine. After the bird is cooked, the vegetables and drippings are thickened with flour and pureed into a delicious pan gravy.
Our Christmas dinners guests at the hippie hole described this dish as clean, lemony, and bouncy. And who doesn’t want a bite of bouncy chicken?
Stovetop Roast Chicken with Lemon Gravy
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (~5 lbs.)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 cup white wine
3 cups chicken broth
½ lemon
1 medium yellow onion, cut into sixths and sliced at ½” intervals
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 ribs celery, sliced into ½” pieces
1 large carrot, sliced into ½” rounds?
2 tbsp flour
Salt + Pepper
Directions:
Begin by spatchcocking the bird. To do this, slice down either side of the spine and remove it. Then lay the bird back down and spread it out. Apply pressure to the center between the breasts to open the chest cavity and allow the bird to lie flatter.
Once spatchcocked, rub the skin side with oil and salt both sides liberally. While doing this, start your roasting vessel, a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. When the pot is hot, put the bird in, skin side down with a bit of oil, and sear it until the skin has a nice color to it. Then remove the bird to a cutting board.
Add a bit of oil and the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, and rosemary to the pot. Cook, stirring regularly, until nicely fragrant and the onions begin to turn translucent.
Add the halved lemon as well as 1 cup of white wine and 1 cup of broth, set in your roasting rack, and place the bird on the rack skin side up. Cover the pot and roast for around 9 minutes per pound, until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast reads 165 degrees.
When the bird is cooked through, remove it from the pot to rest. Remove the roasting rack, rosemary sprigs, and lemon halves as well.
In a small bowl, make a slurry of 2 tbsp flour and 2 tbsp broth. When this slurry is well-mixed add it to the pot along with the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth. Stir this together and allow it to reach a boil and thicken for a few minutes, then remove from heat. Puree this with an immersion blender and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Carve the bird and serve with the gravy beside. Serve with crusty bread or gratin dauphinois and vegetables.
Enjoy!
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