The Sexy Forever Recipe Bible (79 page)

One 5-pound roasting chicken

6 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

3 sprigs fresh sage

40 garlic cloves, unpeeled

3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley

10 black peppercorns

1 cup chicken stock or broth, preferably
homemade
, or more as needed

1 cup dry white wine (use stock for Detox)

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Remove the giblets from the chicken. Rinse the bird and pat it dry. Rub the outside of the chicken with some of the olive oil. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Put half the thyme, rosemary, and sage, plus 5 garlic cloves in the cavity of the chicken. Place the chicken in a Dutch oven fitted with a lid (or use a roasting pan and later cover tightly with foil). Scatter the remaining thyme, rosemary, sage, and garlic, and the parsley and peppercorns around the bird. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Pour the stock into the bottom of the pan. Cover and bake for approximately 1 hour, then remove the cover or foil and let the bird brown for another hour (see
Note
).

Remove the chicken from the pan and place it on a serving platter with the garlic spread all around. Put the pan with the drippings on the stovetop over high heat. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, stirring constantly to reduce the sauce until it starts to thicken. If most of the drippings have evaporated, add another ½ cup of broth and reduce. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Carve the meat and serve with a spoonful of sauce and a few cloves of garlic. The garlic will easily slip out of the skins and add a delicious flavor to the chicken.

SERVES 4

tuscan flattened chicken

PROTEIN, HEALTHY FATS, VEGETABLES
DETOX, LEVEL 1, LEVEL 2

One 4-pound chicken, butterflied (see Note)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, or 1 tablespoon dried

¾ cup olive oil

6 sprigs fresh rosemary, for garnish

Season both sides of the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, and rosemary. Heat the oil in an oversize skillet on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, place the chicken, skin side down, into the skillet. Put a lid that is smaller than the skillet over the chicken, then weight it with a heavy stone or brick.

Cook for about 15 minutes, until the skin is golden brown. Remove the weight and the lid. Turn over the bird and replace the lid and weight. Cook for another 12 minutes. Chicken is done when the juices run clear.

Let chicken rest for about 10 minutes, then carve and serve. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.

SERVES 4

NOTE
 Have your butcher butterfly the chicken by cracking the breastbone so it will lie flat in the roasting pan.

farm-raised chicken st.-germain-beaupré with mushroom shallot dressing

PROTEIN, HEALTHY FATS, VEGETABLES
DETOX, LEVEL 1, LEVEL 2

CHICKEN

One 5- to 7-pound roasting chicken

Sea salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

4 to 6 fresh tarragon sprigs, or 2 tablespoons dried

1 tablespoon herbes de Provence

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 onions, quartered

PAN DRIPPINGS

2 cups boiling chicken water

2 tablespoons (¼ stick) unsalted butter

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mushroom-Shallot Dressing

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

For the chicken:
Remove the giblets from the chicken. Rinse the bird and pat it dry. Fill your largest stockpot halfway with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken and cover. Continue boiling on the stovetop for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully lift out the chicken and reserve 2 cups of the water.

Place the parboiled chicken in a large roasting pan. Brush the outside of the chicken with some of the olive oil, salt, pepper, tarragon (place 1 tarragon sprig inside the cavity), and herbes de Provence. Dot the chicken all over with pats of butter. Rub the quartered onions with the remaining olive oil and place around the chicken in the roasting pan.

Place the pan in the hot oven for 35 to 40 minutes, basting often with pan juices. The bird is done when the skin is crispy brown and crackling and the leg jiggles back and forth easily. Remove from the oven and reserve the pan juices. Place the chicken on a platter. Leave the onions in the roasting pan. You do not have to pour the fat off from the pan because most of the fat was removed during the boiling process.

For the drippings:
Put the roasting pan on the stove over high heat. Pour in the 2 cups reserved boiling chicken water and bring to a boil. Scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan to release the flavor. Reduce the sauce by one half. Turn off the heat. Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, swirling until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Carve the chicken. Serve with the mushroom-shallot dressing and a spoonful of sauce.

SERVES 4 TO 6

mushroom-shallot dressing

HEALTHY FATS, VEGETABLES, INSULIN TRIGGERS
DETOX, LEVEL 1, LEVEL 2