8
Tablespoons of butter
2
Tablespoons for chopped dill, tarragon, chervil or any other herbs you want in
combination
Salt
and Pepper
1
Three to four pound chicken
½
Cup of white wine or water (plus more if you need it)
Optional
Chopped
parsley, or whatever herb leaf you want, as a garnish
1
Clove of garlic
How to Make
You should first start by
pre-heating the oven to about 450 degrees Fahrenheit. From there you should
combine the butter with your selected herbs, plus some salt and pepper. You can
use a food processor, a fork, or whatever you feel comfortable using to combine
them, but note you only need to use half the butter. This is a lot easier if
you soften the butter in a microwave first.
Now you should separate the chicken skin from the meat to get the
butter-herb mix in there. Do not try to separate all the skin, just where you
can, you do not want to tear any of that wonderful stuff. You may also want to
spread some in the chicken cavity as well as on top of the breasts (seasoning
with more salt and pepper of course).
You should now put the rest of the
butter in the pan you are going to roast the chicken in, and place that in the
oven. Do not put the chicken in yet, we still have at least one or two more things
of prep work to do. Once the butter has melted, if you are using the
ingredients, you can add the garlic clove (smashed) and the white wine to the
pan. I like to put some celery stick and pieces of carrots down on the bottom
of the pan to create a natural rack, but you can do what you want here. Either
way, place the chicken in the pan, breast side down and roast for about 20
minutes. After that you should turn the chicken over and spoon some of the
butter in the pan over it. After about ten minutes, the chicken should be
starting to turn brown (roast for longer if this is not the case), from there
you should baste it again and turn the heat down to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
After that, take the chicken out and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then
serve.
Reaction
Chicken is a really nice base
protein to work with, simply because it can absorb a lot of different flavors.
Combine this with the excellent flavors that fresh herbs can bring to a dish
and it is a winning combination. The herbs, I found, mixed well with the flavor
of the butter, and since I chose to use garlic in this, made the chicken that
much better. There are a few ingredients in cooking I swear by. One of them is
garlic, and the flavor it brought here was tremendous, so I highly recommend using
it in the butter and the sauce. And as a side note, I would not limit this herb
butter to just this dish.
As anyone would expect, using such
ingredients as butter and herbs, the chicken absorbed the flavors wonderfully.
If you watch the chicken enough, and cook it right the meat will be moist and
juicy, adding its own flavor to the mix. But as with most roast chickens, the
start of the show was the skin. Crispy, crunchy and full of wonderful, herbed
filled, buttery flavor, there was nothing to dislike other than there only
being so much to eat. And considering that it locked in that flavor for the
rest of the chicken was an added plus.
Overall, this was an excellent dish.
It is not a full stand alone meal, however, as it does not provide enough to be
eaten solely by itself. Some boiled green beans would easily be best with it,
as well as some rice. In the end, if you have the time and patience with this
dish, it will come out great.
