Roast Chicken

This cookbook is no joke!  Alex and I became serious fans of Thomas Keller after eating quiche at his Bouchon restaurant in Las Vegas.  (We live in Vegas, have we mentioned that?  Lots of restaurants to review in this town!)  Anyway, best quiche ever.  It inspired us to buy this cookbook, which, I won't lie, is immensely complicated.  But it is amazing. Every recipe we've tried so far has been pretty great, even if it is complicated.  This is definitely a weekend cookbook for us, but its a good one.

We believe this cookbook may just have the very best Roast Chicken recipe, ever.  Brine the chicken, roast it for an hour, delicious.

Roast Chicken, adapted from Bouchon by Thomas Keller (we made one chicken instead of two)

One 4lb Chicken

Brine

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp Canola Oil

1 tsp. chopped Thyme

Remove the chicken from any packaging and rinse with cold water before putting it in the pot of cooled brine.  It should be fully submerged so if you need to, weigh it down with a plate or something.  Let it sit in the refrigerator for 6 hours.  (Seems like a long time but the Master knows what he is doing and this doesn't come out salty in the least.)  A half hour before you are ready to roast the chicken, remove it from the brine, rinse it again and pat it dry.  Truss it with kitchen twine and let it to rest on the counter at room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 475 F.  After those 30 minutes are up season the chicken with a little salt and pepper.  Heat a large cast iron skillet on high and when hot add the oil.  Put the chicken into the hot oiled skillet breast side up and then put the skillet into the oven.  Roast the chicken about 50 minutes or until a thermometer reads 155 F.  Don't worry if that sounds low, the chicken will continue to cook even after you take it out of the oven and will arrive at about 165 F.  Once out of the oven, let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes.  Baste it with the pan juices during this time and sprinkle the thyme leaves over.

Carve and enjoy.  Even though you just seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper it has wonderful flavor from the brine.  So good.   Hope you try it.