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A good roasted chicken is a simple, elegant thing. But if I’m being honest, the thing I love most about roast chicken is the drippings. I love the salty fat so much that for the past five years I have almost exclusively roasted chickens on top of piles of stale bread. Then, while everyone else digs into the meat, I pluck out the bread. This makeshift dressing, salty and rich, is so satisfying that I’ve made a full dinner of it more than once.
This recipe was inspired in part by my penchant for that rough, flavorful dressing. It’s also a call out to tarragon, a tender, sprightly herb with a bewitching flavor, somewhere between mint and lemon, with a hint of anise. Tarragon is a perennial, and it grows fine indoors, but its early spring leaves are especially fragrant — a gardener’s gift.
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You’ll notice that the recipe is easy to remember — it’s a 1-2-3-4-5-6 recipe! — and that’s intentional. I hope this formula might turn into a keeper for you, an easy-to-remember and easier-to-follow structure to apply to any chicken, seasoned however you like it, any time of year.
Roasted in a Dutch oven, the chicken cooks quickly — in under an hour! — and it has its own built-in side dish (the bread!). Because it’s mostly hands-off, you’ll have time to do the dishes (there are very few), maybe make a salad out of crisp, spring greens and herbs, mix together a mustardy dressing, watch the birds flit from tree to tree outside your window, or even do the crossword.
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