Emily's Hot Dish

I saw this recipe posted over on The Kitchn about 2 weeks ago and the write-up was so effusive I went and bought a chicken that night to try it out. It was as incredible as promised – so incredible, I made it again a week later. I think my favorite thing about this recipe is that you can easily get 3 or 4 meals out of it: the night you roast it, an unbelievably rich and flavorful stock for later use, salad with leftover meat, sandwiches with leftover meat, etc. To that end, I’ll post recipes over the next few days using up the leftovers from this chicken. 

You will need:
  •1 whole chicken
  •zest of 2 lemons
  •2 cups milk
  •2 T butter
  •2 T olive oil
  •½ cinnamon stick
  •handful fresh sage leaves
  •1 head of garlic, papery outer skin removed and broken up into cloves with the peel left on

Specialty equipment:
  •dutch oven with lid that the chicken will fit in snugly
  •gravy separator

Preheat the oven to 375. On the stovetop, melt the butter with the oil in the dutch oven. When the pan is hot and the butter is melted, place the chicken in the pan and brown. When the first side is browned, turn the chicken ¼ turn and brown the next side. Repeat on remaining sides so that the whole chicken is golden brown. Remove the chicken to a plate and empty out the fat. 

Return the chicken to the pan breast-side down and add the milk, garlic, zest, cinnamon, and sage. Cover the pan and roast for 1 hour. 

Remove the lid and roast for another 30 minutes. 

Remove the chicken from the oven after it has roasted for a total of 90 minutes. Stand at the stove and pick off the skin and eat it up, sharing it only with people you like a WHOLE LOT.

Remove the chicken to a plate, pull the meat off the bones, and portion between plates. Save the bones for making stock after dinner.

Fish the garlic out from the sauce in the pan and put 2 or 3 on each plate. 

Pour the liquid in the pan into a gravy separator. Pour the liquid out into a gravy boat or pitcher, leaving the fat in the separator. There is no need to strain the liquid – the solids from the separated milk and the wilted sage leaves are DELICIOUS. 

Set the pan back on the stove and put the bones and all scraps in the pot. Don’t wash the pot – all the little brown sticky bits will give lovely flavor to the stock we’re going to make after dinner.

Serve the chicken with the garlic and roasting liquid. 

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