Shop Local, Eat Fresh at the Saratoga Farmers' Market | Food, Crafts, Music in Saratoga Springs

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

roast chicken

Roast Heritage Chicken with Carrots

By

Recipe courtesy of Squash Villa Farm

“Heritage breed chickens have well-developed flavor. Cooking them slower and at a lower temperature allows the legs and thighs to cook fully without overcooking the breasts.”

Ingredients

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

  • Whole heritage chicken* (Delaware, Ameraucana, or another breed)
  • 2 Tbls melted butter
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 large yellow onion*, thickly sliced
  • 4 carrots* cut into 2-inch chunks
  • 1 bulb of garlic*, split into cloves
  • Olive oil

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  
  2. Remove chicken from refrigerator and allow to warm to ambient temperature. 
  3. Remove any leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Brush the outside of the chicken with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the breasts loosely with aluminum foil to prevent the meat from overcooking. Place the onions, carrots, and whole garlic cloves in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
  4. Roast the chicken covered, breast up for 30 minutes per pound. The juices will run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh. Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil and allow to rest. If the carrots aren’t tender, continue roasting until tender. 

Comfort Foods for Christmas

By

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Prepping Roast Chicken, Adobe Stock

Short days, long nights, and frigid wind chills characterize our winter holidays, even without a pandemic. This kind of weather offers an excuse to forgo extensive meals and focus on what is elegantly simple: dishes that require few ingredients and few steps to prepare. With foods from our local farmers, elegance is easy.

Think roast chicken. Pick up a half or whole chicken at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, fresh or frozen. If frozen, thaw. If fresh, immediately wrap the breast and wing in aluminum foil and roast in an open pot at 450 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven, cool the oven down to 325 degrees, unwrap the foil, put a lid on the pot, and continue cooking for an additional 15-17 minutes a pound, usually about 50 minutes for a three-pound chicken. You can add salt and pepper, lemon, herbs, or any other seasonings to the chicken beforehand. But farm-raised chicken is delicious as is.

While the chicken is cooking, consider adding mashed potatoes. Wash potatoes and scrub skins of debris. Boil until soft or cook in an instant pot. Then, melt butter or heat oil in a stovetop pot. Add potatoes, and mash until they’re of a consistency you like. Salt, pepper, herbs, and milk can enhance the flavor.

Pleasant Valley Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

Carrots, turnips, and beets tossed in oil and seasoned with salt and pepper can roast nicely as your chicken cooks. Or try boiling these nutritious root vegetables on the stove until fork tender and tossing in a half or quarter head of cabbage toward the end.

Finally, try onion soup. Warm 5-6 cups of chicken stock (or any other meat stock or vegetable broth) in a soup pot. While the stock is simmering, thinly slice about five medium-sized onions. Cook with oil or butter in a skillet at medium-low heat until the onions have caramelized, about 25 minutes. The key is to get the onions soft but to stir often so they do not stick to the pan. Turn the heat down and add a tablespoon of flour. Toss well, then add to simmering stock, stirring gently to dissolve the flour. Serve with toasted bread and sliced cheese.

This week’s recipe: French Onion Soup

Roast Chicken

By

Adapted from the recipe by Ina Garten, shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table
Makes 8 servings

Photo by Pattie Garrett

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market
● 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken*
● Kosher salt
● Freshly ground black pepper
● 1 large bunch fresh thyme*
● 1 lemon, halved
● 1 head garlic*, cut in half crosswise
● 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter*, melted

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.