Yum Yums: Indian Spiced Roasted Chicken

Remember that oh, so BEAUTIFUL chicken I bought for $4 a couple of months ago??

 Yeah. I did something special with that bad boy! 

This recipe is type long in terms of ingredients, but not difficult at all! 

I did this recipe for my practical exam and freakin blew my chef AWAY. 

Yeah, ya girl knows her way around the kitchen..;)

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 3-4lb Whole chicken

Rub:

2 tbsp Ground Cumin

1 tbsp Ground Coriander

2 tbsp Ground black pepper

1/4 tsp Grated Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Dry Mustard

1 1/2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Ginger

1 tsp Turmeric

1 tbsp Paprika

2 tbsp Kosher Salt

4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

2 Spanish [yellow] Onions

2 Garlic Heads + 2 cloves

3 Carrots

2 Celery Stalks

Stuffing:

1 Piece of ginger about the length of your thumb

1 sprig of parsley

1 sprig of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp Peppercorns

Make sure you place your vegetables so that the chicken elevated evenly.

The first thing you want to do is get your vegetables ready. This array of vegetables is known as mirepoix, which  is the combination of celery, carrots and aromatics to provide flavor and aroma. Mirepoix can also be used to elevate a roast during roasting and also provides additional flavor to the pan drippings to later make a sauce for your roast.

1. Rinse off your celery; cut the tops and ends off of your celery stalks and cut the stalks into 3 pieces.
2. Peel your carrots; cut off the tops and ends and cut the carrots into 3 pieces.
3. Cut the whole garlic head in half, the way you would cut a grapefruit.
4. Cut the onions in half, discard the outer layer, and cut the halves in half.
5. Set aside in roasting pan

You don't want the vegetables cut too small because you don't want them to burn while the chicken is cooking on top of them.

• Next, I got the aromatics I planned on stuffing inside of the bird (Parsley, thyme, Bay leaf, ginger, garlic, peppercorns) prepped and set aside. I didn't chop anything up except for the ginger, which i cut into 3 pieces. 

• Combine all of your dry ingredients with butter and mix together until fully incorporated.

Now it's time to prep the bird!!

If you've never worked with a whole chicken, don't be intimidated, it's not difficult at all.

• Cut off the tail and discard.

• Next, remove the wishbone.

 Here's an instructional video on how to remove it.

 What I do is sit the bird on it's butt, open the neck and feel for the wishbone with my fingers. 
Once I feel it, I take my knife and scrape up against it to gently remove the meat that's covering it. 
When the bone is about 75% of the way exposed, I just run my fingers along the bone to remove any excess meat and repeat on the next side. 
Once it's exposed, I grab the tip of the wishbone and pull it out. 
Don't worry if it breaks on you, just take it out.

• Once the wishbone is out, throw the wishbone in with the mirepoix.
• Continue prepping the bird by cutting off the wing. ATTENTION: Don't do what I did and cut off the WHOLE WING Leave the drumette part attached. Throw the wing and tip in with the mirepoix as well.

See the part over to the far right-->> ??? Yeah. Leave that^ on the chicken.

....like so.

• The next thing you want to do is rub your fingers right under the skin of the breast to make room for the butter you're about to shove in there!

• Now, take a glob of the butter mixture and shove it up under the breast skin. 

• Once you get a good amount under there, use your thumb to push and evenly distribute the butter throughout the whole breast; repeat on other side. You can even try to get some butter in between the thighs for additional seasoning. When you feel as though you've stuffed enough butter in your bird, feel free to rub the rest of it on the outside. If you have none left, mix up some salt, pepper and curry powder to rub on it. 

The reason you rub the butter under the skin is to provide moisture and additional flavoring to the breast. Knowing that this is usually the driest meat on the bird, the butter will baste the breasts in conjunction with the fat in the skin to give in more moisture.

It looks kinda crazy, but it's gonna taste AWESOME!

• Stuff your chicken with the aromatics you set aside earlier.

• Finally, truss  your chicken, place it on your mirepoix and bake it at 350 degrees F, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, or until the thigh meat reads 175 degrees F.

I don't have a pic of the final result (because they freakin ATTACKED it) but it was DELICIOUS! I hope you enjoy!!

P.S. Do NOT Consume the aromatics you stuffed inside of the bird.