One of the things I love most about my job is that there is always something new to learn. It doesn’t matter if it’s from another chef, assistant, retail associate or manager, or even a student taking your class. New ideas and techniques can come to you from several sources, which is just one thing I love about cooking.
Lately, I've been obsessed with baking cakes in Bundt pans. I probably have 5 or 6 Bundt pans in my possession. Yeah, I might need help. My collection consists of cute little mini Bundt pans, ornate, elaborate ones and plain pans. I recently shared my new baking obsession with my sister and aunt. I gave them each a new Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt pan that we sell at The Chopping Block. Now the obsession extends to my family!
It seems this obsession also applies to my former coworker and good friend, Bailey Phillips. One day while on Facebook, I noticed Bailey had posted a photo of a whole chicken she was about to roast in the oven. After, she posted a picture of the final result. It was beautiful and accomplished in a Bundt pan! The photo showed a beautifully, golden brown roast chicken and with what seemed to be extremely crispy skin. After seeing that, I was off to the store to purchase everything I needed to attempt to replicate Bailey’s perfectly roasted chicken. I started by buying a really nice, organic, free-range air-dried roasting chicken. I also got several aromatics, such as onions, celery, carrots, herbs and lemons that would help create lots of flavor while the chicken roasted. I also bought ingredients for a couple of side dishes that would go great with roast chicken; creamy buttermilk mashed potatoes and brown sugar charred honey glazed carrots.
Of course vertically roasting a chicken in a Bundt pan was something foreign to me, so I ‘Googled’ the subject. I was amazed at how many results popped up when I researched this subject. I decided to take a little bit of information from each search so I could make vertically roasting a chicken in a Bundt pan my own. What I discovered was that roasting your chicken like this is an ingenious way to get the skin crispy all the way around the bird. If you’ve ever roasted a chicken using the beer can method, using a Bundt pan is very similar.
Here’s my version of Bundt Pan Roast Chicken:
1 whole chicken, about 5-6 pounds, giblets removed and washed under cold water and patted dry with paper towels
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium-size onion cut into quarters (it’s okay to leave the skins on)
2 stalks of celery cut into ½ inch pieces
1 lemon cut into quarters
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of melted butter
A small square piece of aluminum foil
Salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Season the entire chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.
- Rub the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the entire chicken.
- Scatter the carrots, celery, onion, and lemon on the bottom of the Bundt pan and then place the thyme and bay leaf on top of the veggies.
- Pour the 4 tablespoons of melted butter over the chicken and vegetables.
- Take the piece of foil, fold it up and then place over the hole of the Bundt pan.
- Place the chicken over the center of the Bundt pan, now covered with foil.
- Place the Bundt pan with the chicken on a baking sheet and roast on the lowest baking rack in the oven.
- Roast for 1 hour or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
- When done, remove the chicken to a cutting board and tent with foil to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
To dress this incredible roast chicken, I made a simple chicken gravy with the pan drippings, by whisking a couple of tablespoons of flour into the drippings to create a roux. Next I slowly whisked in and added 2 cups of warm chicken stock, until it was the consistency of gravy. Lastly, I finished the gravy with a splash of dry white wine and some fresh chopped thyme.
After the chicken rested, I carved and plated it. It was now time to sit back, relax and enjoy the golden brown, crispy skin along with the moist and tender bird that I just roasted in a Bundt pan along with the potatoes and carrots.
This dinner was just for two people, so I had leftover chicken. I pulled and shredded the rest of the chicken meat and stored it in the refrigerator to create a few more dishes with it.
A few days later, I took half of the leftover shredded meat from that beautifully roasted chicken and made it into a tasty herbed chicken salad. I combined a ¼ cup of mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon of honey. I folded the honey, Dijon mayo into the chicken. I next added about ¼ cup of seedless red grapes that were cut in half, a couple of sprigs of minced tarragon and thyme, 2 scallions thinly sliced on the bias and 1 celery stalk cut into a small dice. I then seasoned the salad with salt and pepper to taste. Go gently on the tarragon. You don’t want the herb to completely take over the flavor of the salad. If you want to add an exotic bend to your chicken salad, a teaspoon or two of curry powder will do the trick.
Now to the remaining leftover roast chicken. I decided to make individual creamy, vegetable and herb-filled chicken pot pies topped with a puff pastry crust. Along with the chicken pot pies, I served a salad of golden roasted beets, with baby kale and baby romaine greens, a lemon, honey, thyme and garlic vinaigrette, candied pecans, a sprinkling of dried cranberries and crumbled goat cheese.
It was pretty exciting being able to create three delicious and varied dishes from one roast chicken. But wait, there’s more! After initially filling the individual containers with the creamy chicken mixture for my potpies. I realized that I had a fair amount of filling left over, but I had an idea!
A couple of days later I warmed up the pot pie filling, added boiled egg noodles to the leftover filling and placed it in a casserole dish. I topped it with a mixture of toasted panko breadcrumbs mixed with two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, two tablespoons of melted butter and some finely minced parsley. So instead of tuna noodle casserole, which is one of my all-time favorite comfort dishes, I made a creamy chicken noodle casserole.
Along with the chicken noodle casserole, I served a salad of baby romaine, chopped romaine lettuce hearts, baby heirloom tomatoes, sliced English cucumber, shaved red onion, home-made croutons, chopped hard boiled egg and topped with a home-made spicy thousand island dressing. I was able to get the right amount of spiciness in my Thousand Island dressing from using Garner Girls, Habanero Sweet Pickle Relish. The many varieties of pickle products they offer have also become one of my latest obsessions.
Want to take yourself out of your comfort zone? Try roasting a chicken in a completely different and what might seem like a very unusual way. You will be astounded with the beauty, delicious flavor, crispy skin and moistness you will achieve by using this new way of roasting a chicken. But I have to say that there is nothing wrong with roasting a chicken in the traditional way as well. At The Chopping Block, we offer a Chicken 101 cooking class where we instruct you on the fine techniques of roasting and carving a chicken, along with a variety of other ways to cook chicken.
