Dateline: September 9, 2020 Chicken, but which side of the road????

 I have a lovely whole chicken that I intend to either grill or rotisserie.  Which will be dependent on the weather.  Right now, it is clouding over and looking quite gray.  Last thing I want to be doing in a down pour is pulling a half cooked chicken off the grill.  It is not supposed to rain, but there is a 50% chance.  That has sealed it.  Rotisseried in the oven it is.  

I am thinking a reprieve of the preserved lemon rub and sliced taters below to roast along with the chicken drippings and lemony goodness.  I think I will also make some lemony wilted greens with garlic to finish off the plan.

Ingredients

Lemon Paste Marinade

1-2 preserved lemons

1/2 seeded jalapeno or calabrian hot pepper paste

1 garlic clove, peeled 

olive oil

Blitz everything together and if necessary, thin with more olive oil.  Reserve about 2 T for the greens, the rest can be schmeered all over the chicken and potatoes.

1 roasting chicken, rinsed, patted dry and rubbed inside and out with the lemon paste

5 or 6 small potatoes, cut in half or quarters, depending on size.  You want sort of uniform pieces

1/2 head of cabbage, sliced into thin ribbons

1 bunch tuscan kale, stripped and sliced into thin ribbons

1 small onion, chopped

lemon paste

olive oil

1/1 cup water or chicken stock

Method

1.  Rub the chicken inside and out with the lemon paste.  Set aside.  Save some to rub on the potatoes and about 2T for the greens.  Spit the chicken and truss if necessary to the spit.

2.   Prepare the potatoes by rubbing them with some of the lemon paste and a small douse of olive oil, pepper, and place in the bottom of a roasting pan that will sit under the rotating chicken to catch all of the goodness that drips from the chicken on to the taters.  

3.  Set oven to 325° F.  My rotisserie spit is difficult to work with and needs to be played with to make it fit into the particular slot it needs to be in.  This is why I am not preheating the oven.  I have spent too much time on my hands and knees in front of a hot oven, cursing the damn spit, to even recount.  Now I spit it, THEN heat the oven.  Roast for an hour, checking on everything to make sure that nothing is getting too dark or burned.  When chicken thighs have gotten to 175-180 and breast near the wing bone is about the same temp, AND the juices in the cavity are brown, THEN she is done.  Remove chicken to a cutting board and scrape up the taters into a serving bowl.  You can pour the chicken juices over the taters before carving it up into pieces.  Or use the chicken juice over the greens for some extra flavor.

4.  For the greens, heat a pan over medium heat and add olive oil and onions.  Saute until they soften a bit.   When fragrant, add the ribbons of greens.  Stir to coat liberally with the flavorful oil and lid the pan.  Turn the heat to low and let the greens steam for a while.  Check on the greens and if they are getting dry, add water or chicken stock about 1/4 c at a time.  Lid the pan again and continue checking in on the greens.  When they are wilted and almost tender, add the lemon paste and stir well.  Turn off the burner, cover the pan and let the greens hang out until the chicken is finished.

   

The potatoes were addictive, what's not to love about crusty potatoes!  The greens were quite good, even Bill took a second helping!  The chicken was quite moist and perfectly cooked.  The skin was not as crispy as I like, in fact, it wasn't crispy at all, just browned.  I think a blast at the beginning of 400-450° F heat for 15 minutes and then back it down to 325° would solve the problem.