Martha Stewart's Potatoes That Taste Better Than The Chicken

I'm not afraid to admit that I love Martha Stewart, felon background and all. She makes some great dishes and comes up with some really crafty stuff. I don't strive to be her or anything, but I do like her website and magazine. My friend Heather recommended this roasted chicken recipe, and since she was also the one to introduce me to polenta lasagna, I completely trust her when it comes to recipes. My friend Jenn made a similar chicken when I had dinner at her house one time, and it was fantastic. Plus I love a good roasted chicken. I think there are few things that are more homey than a roasted chicken. And I can generally get two meals and stock from one chicken. Since I only buy them when they're on sale, they're super economical too. We don't eat potatoes very often because they have such little nutritional value, so I consider it a real treat when we have them.

Martha's Potatoes That Taste Better Than The Chicken
Source: MarthaStewart.com


6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 whole (2 1/2-to-3-pound) chicken, wings removed
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 chicken liver
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
Fleur de sel, for serving
Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Butter a medium roasting pan with 3 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons oil. Place potatoes in a single layer in roasting pan. Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Place liver, rosemary, thyme, and garlic inside cavity of chicken; using kitchen twine, tie legs together to enclose. Rub chicken with remaining 3 tablespoons each of butter and oil. Place chicken on top of potatoes on one of its sides.

Transfer roasting pan to oven and roast for 20 minutes. Turn chicken onto its other side and continue roasting 20 minutes more. Turn chicken, breast side up, and add 2 tablespoons water to pan; continue roasting until juices run clear and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 10 to 20 minutes more.

Carve chicken in roasting pan allowing the juices to combine with the potatoes. Serve from the roasting pan, spooning pan juices over potatoes. Sprinkle with fleur de sel.

*****

I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to find grapeseed oil since I did my grocery shopping that week at Walmart, but surprisingly (well, surprisingly to me anyway) Walmart had it and the price was really reasonable, too.

Like I said above, I love a good roasted chicken, and this was a good one. But, just like the recipe title claims, the potatoes were indeed better than the chicken. Roasted potatoes that have been cooking in chicken drippings--yum. I followed the advice of some of the comments on the recipe on Martha's website and let them roast for a bit longer after removing the chicken to let them crisp up a little. Delish! I've actually made this chicken a few times since then, only without the potatoes since we don't generally have them on hand. The butter and oil combo makes the skin nice and crispy and tasty. I didn't used to be a chicken skin fan, but man alive do I love it now. Especially when it's super crispy and salty--yum! This has become my go-to roasted chicken recipe.

Sorry for the crappy pictures I have to get my Speedlite issues figured out so I can get decent pictures again. Sigh. This was a particularly bad camera night.