Best Medieval Roasted Chicken Recipes

Perfect Roast Chicken image

Provided by Ina Garten

Categories main-dish

Time 2h10m

Yield 8 servings

Number Of Ingredients 11

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
Olive oil

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.

Medieval chicken with whole garlic cloves image

Provided by Clarissa Dickson Wright

Yield Serves 4 - 6

Number Of Ingredients 9

1 small packet saffron threads
400ml/14fl oz white wine
1 roasting chicken
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
5 small garlic bulbs
5cm/2in piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
olive oil
sea salt

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8.
Soak the saffron in a little of the wine. Rub the chicken all over with the pepper and cinnamon and place the chicken in an ovenproof dish.
Cut the tops off the garlic bulbs so you can see the cloves and arrange them around the chicken with the ginger. Pour a little olive oil into the garlic bulbs and pour the saffron and remaining wine around the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and place in the oven.
Roast for 20 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 170C/325F/Gas 3 and cook for another 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear and the chicken is cooked through. Baste the chicken and garlic regularly during cooking.

Medieval Chicken in a Clay Roaster image

Provided by Akikobay

Time 1h40m

Yield 6 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 8

1 roasting chicken (large whole roaster, can substitute cornish game hens or smaller roasters)
salt and pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 -4 garlic cloves (minced fine)
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 cup white wine
1 cup orange juice

Steps:

Soak the clay pot according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Spatchcock the chicken, making sure to remove the keel bone and breast cartilage, but not cutting the bird into halves. Rinse.
Season the chicken inside and out to taste with the salt and pepper.
Combine the softened butter and the minced garlic. The amount of garlic should be adjusted based upon your preference.
Using your fingers, spread the garlic butter between the meat and the skin of the breast and leg meat.
Wrap the chicken around the quartered onions and fresh rosemary and place in the prepared clay pot.
Pour the white wine and the orange juice over the prepared bird, allowing the excess liquid to pool at the bottom of the pot.
Place covered clay pot in COLD oven and turn the heat on to 450 degrees. Bake until the chicken is cooked (use an oven thermometer) through, checking often after the one hour mark. The time will vary based upon the size of the bird(s). (In our oven, baking time is typically between 75 and 90 minutes.).
As the bird gets close to being done, take the cover off the pot and allow it to brown.
Allow the chicken or hens to cool for 10 minutes in the pot with the juices after removing from the oven. Collect the juices and skim off as much fat as possible.
Cut up and serve the bird with some of the lovely skimmed juice on the side. Thicken it if you want, but we like it just as is.