Coming Home to Roast Chicken

Roast chicken is a universal comfort food, and seemed like the perfect choice for Mom's first dinner party in her new home!   On the grill it can be prepared in many different ways:  on the rotisserie, as beer can chicken, by indirect roasting with a drip pan, or by smoking.  This variation has the great bonus of vegetables that taste even better than the meat, and is inspired by a recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Chefs at Home, 2010, Relais & Chateaux

Roast Chicken and Vegetables

3 ½ -4 pound chicken

  3      tablespoons butter, divided

2      pounds potatoes, cut into 1” chunks

      4     medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1 “ chunks

2      small onions, quartered

1      tablespoon olive oil

       1     bunch thyme

1     small bunch sage

1    small bunch rosemary

        salt and freshly ground black pepper

       2    9” x 13” aluminum foil pans, one inside the other for added strength

Preheat barbecue on MEDIUM HIGH.

Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry well with paper towels.

Prepare the doubled foil pan by coating well with half the butter.  Spread the vegetables on top of the butter and drizzle with olive oil, tossing to coat.  Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and pepper inside the cavity of the chicken, then stuff it loosely with the thyme, sage and rosemary.  Spread the remaining half of the butter over the skin, and sprinkle with more salt and pepper.   Nestle the chicken in the pan with the vegetables, starting with one leg side down.

Place the chicken in the pan in the middle of the barbecue, and turn off the centre burners.  Reduce the temperature of the two outside burners to MEDIUM.  Close the lid and cook undisturbed for 20 minutes.  Turn the chicken onto the other leg side, gently turn the vegetables, and adjust temperature as necessary to maintain about 400°F.  After another 20 minutes, turn the chicken breast side down, once again turning the vegetables.  If the chicken skin is not browning very much at this point, you could reignite the centre burners and keep the flame on LOW.  This will also help to caramelize the vegetables. Test the chicken for doneness by placing a meat thermometer in the dark meat away from the bone, and continue to cook until the temperature reaches 180°F( 83°C).  Let rest 10 minutes before carving.