This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Simple Italian Food by Mario Batali. He says it’s one of his favorite things to make on a Sunday for Family dinner and I agree. There is something so festive about making a whole chicken, it’s just comforting. By the way, the leftover onions, pan juices and carcass make a kick ass chicken stock like no other. The pan juices create their own sauce, all you do is strain the fat out of it. That’s due to the 2 secret weapons, a parmesan rind and bacon. His recipe has you use a proscuitto rind but I am pretty sure you don’t have one of those sitting in your fridge right now, so the bacon fits the bill. 🙂 Someone once said to me that “Bacon is the duck tape of food”, how perfect is that?
The pan juices…………
- Whole Chicken
- 2 Large Red Onions, sliced thick
- 6 Whole Garlic cloves
- 4 Tbsp Chopped Rosemary
- 2 Tbsp Chopped Garlic
- 4 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Parmesan Rind
- 2 Slices of Bacon
- 1 Cup Red Wine
- 4 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- Place the onions in dutch oven or roasting pan. Season with Salt & Pepper. Put the whole garlic in the pan as well.
- Place the rosemary, chopped garlic and olive oil in a bowl. Rub the marinade all over the chicken, season the chicken with salt & pepper. Add the parmesan rind and bacon to the inside of the chicken. Put the chicken in the roasting pan on top of the onions. Marinate the chicken at least one hour, up to 6 hours.
- Take the chicken out 1 hour before cooking to bring to room temperature.
- Heat oven to 400 and roast the chicken for 1.5 to 2 hours until it is 170 degrees.
- Rest chicken on a cutting board with foil.
- Strain the pan juices. Put onions aside.
- Strain the fat from the juices.
- Serve the chicken with the juices and the onions.
- Save the remaining pan juices, onions and carcass to make a super flavorful stock.
This recipe does not contain all the directions.