Roast Chicken With Crisp Toasts And Ricotta Recipes

GRILLED ROAST CHICKEN WITH SPINACH-RICOTTA CROSTINI

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, chile powder and lemon zest. Rub the chicken inside and out with salt mixture. Place chicken on a rack set over a baking pan to catch any drips, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Heat a gas grill, or light a charcoal grill for indirect heat (meaning pile the coals on one side of the gill, leaving the other side empty).
• Place a cast-iron skillet on the grate directly over the coals. Cover the grill, and let the pan heat up for 10 minutes.
• Remove chicken from the refrigerator. Use a sharp knife to cut the skin connecting the legs to the rest of the body. Use your hands to splay the thighs open until you feel the joint pop.
• Rub chicken with oil and place it breast side down in the hot skillet. Cover grill and cook 5 to 7 minutes, until the breast is seared and golden and easily releases from the pan.
• Using tongs and a spatula for balance, carefully flip chicken and cover the grill again. Continue cooking until the underside of the chicken is starting to brown, 10 to 20 minutes. Make sure the skin doesn't get too dark; it will continue to brown even as it cooks over indirect heat. You're looking for a medium golden color here, a shade or two lighter than what you ultimately want it to look like.
• Move the skillet over to the unlit side of the charcoal grill, or turn off the burners on your gas grill that are underneath the pan. Cover grill and continue to cook until the bird is cooked through, 10 to 25 minutes longer. An instant-read thermometer should register 155 degrees in the breast. You'll need to keep your eye on the grill heat as you cook. If you've got a thermometer on your grill cover, you're looking for it to be at about 450 degrees. If it falls below 400 degrees or seems as if it's not hot enough (i.e., your chicken is cooking too slowly), add more coals or turn up your burners. Use your intuition here.
• Transfer chicken from the skillet to a cutting board, and tent with foil to rest.
• Throw garlic, anchovies (if desired) and red pepper flakes into the skillet and cook, uncovered, until the garlic starts to sizzle and turn golden, about 20 seconds. Toss in spinach and dill and cook, stirring with your tongs, until just wilted, 2 minutes longer. If the spinach isn't wilting quickly, push the pan back over the flame to direct heat. Season with salt.
• Place bread slices on grill and cook until lightly charred, about 1 minute per side.
• To serve, drizzle toasts with oil and slather with ricotta. Top with spinach mix and a little lemon juice. Serve alongside sliced chicken.

RICOTTA AND HERB-STUFFED ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F.
• *To spatchcock the chicken: Place the bird, breast side down on a cutting board. Using poultry shears or a sharp knife, score along both sides of the backbone, cutting through the skin and bone. Remove the backbone. Turn the bird over and press firmly on the breast bone to break it, and flatten the breast. Tuck the wing tips under the breast. Set the chicken aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the ricotta, chervil, chives, lemon zest, and season with sea salt and black pepper, to taste. Using your fingers, carefully loosen the skin over the breast of the chicken and down to the thigh area. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly under the skin to coat the breast and thigh meat.
• Set the chicken in a roasting pan, drizzle it with olive oil and re-season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Roast until the juices run clear when you poke a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh, about 50 minutes. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before carving.

CRISPY PARMESAN ROAST CHICKEN WITH LEMON

Steps:

• Finely grate 1 teaspoon zest from the lemon and place it in a small bowl. (Save the zested lemon for the drippings.) Stir in 2 teaspoons salt, pepper, chopped rosemary and red-pepper flakes, if using. Season the chicken inside and out with salt mixture. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or refrigerate uncovered for up to overnight.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken, breast-side up, in a large skillet, sheet pan or roasting pan. Stuff cavity of chicken with rosemary sprigs. Drizzle breast with a little olive oil.
• Roast chicken for 30 minutes. Sprinkle chicken all over with Parmesan, then continue roasting until bird's juices run clear when skin is pierced with a knife and the skin is golden, 25 to 30 minutes longer.
• Let chicken rest for 10 minutes. Squeeze juice from the zested lemon, to taste, into the pan drippings and season with more salt and red-pepper flakes if you like. Carve and serve with drippings spooned over the meat.

PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
• Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

GARLIC AND THYME ROASTED CHICKEN WITH CRISPY DRIPPINGS CROUTONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange oven rack so that it is in center of oven. Lay bread slices in a thick, heavy-duty metal roasting pan in one layer. (Try not to use a thin or dark colored pan, which may cause bread to burn: see note.) Drizzle liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Rub 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper inside cavity of chicken. Stuff cavity with garlic, bay leaf, lemon and thyme. Rub outside of chicken with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle all over with remaining salt and pepper. Place it breast side up on bread.
• Roast chicken until it is deeply browned and juices run clear when thigh is pricked with a knife, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before carving. Serve chicken with bread from pan.