Julia Child’s Special Roast Provencal Chicken

Chicken is one of the most popular meat choices around, and for good reason. It’s delicious, cheap, and healthy. Nothing beats a Julia Child roast Provencal chicken. It is moist in the inside, and has fabulous color on the outside. Every bite of Julia Child’s roast chicken is truly a heavenly experience, which is why it remains to be a favorite special meal of mine, and a perfect one, in almost every occasion.

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs of whole chicken
• 2 ½ T Unsalted butter
• 1/3 cups each of diced carrots, onions, and celery
• 1 t thyme  (this can be replaced with savory (fresh or sprigs) or mixed herbs)
• Salt and ground pepper
• Parsley (stems)
• 6 pcs of lemon slices (about 1/8 inch in thickness)
• Leaves of celery
• 1 T lemon juice
• ¾ cup of chicken stock (you can use broth too)

Directions:

While your oven is preheating at 425 degrees, get a saucepan, and start melting your butter. Get your celery, onions, and carrots, and sauté them, until it gets tender. Once done, add your dry herbs, and mix.

Prepare your chicken. Make sure to remove the neck, and start rubbing salt and pepper into the meat, and the inside of the chicken. Place the sautéed vegetable inside, including the lemons, parsley, and celery leaves.  Brush the outside with butter, and secure your chicken by tying the legs together.

Get your pan, and make sure it is slightly larger to the size of your chicken. Do the last seasoning of salt on top of the chicken. Place it inside the oven, and start baking.

Baking time is 1 hour and 15 minutes.

However, there are few more steps you need to do, during the baking process.

Here’s what I do…

After 15 minutes of roasting, I lower down the heat to 350 degrees, and brush my chicken with butter, to keep it moist. I also add onions and carrots beside the chicken, to add more flavour. After 45 minutes of roasting, I brush some lemon juice and add water on the veggies, if I see that it is starting to burn or dry.

After an hour, I check the meat if it is already cooked, and I scoop in some of the chicken juice, and pour it on top, to make sure that the meat will still be tender and juicy. I know that my chicken is already cooked, once my handy thermometer shows 165 degrees.

Once the chicken is done, I take it out of the pan, and let it rest on a rack.

Do not throw the contents in your pan. You can add chicken broth with it, and boil it, to make the perfect bath for your chicken, before serving.