December 4, 2020 • 0

Holiday Recipes From Our Chefs: Whole Roasted Chicken

Did you catch our Chefs at Home recipe series this summer? If you followed along, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! We had so much fun with the series that we’ve gone back to our executive chefs to see what they’re serving up this holiday season. The latest in our holiday recipes at home series is a recipe from Royal Sonesta Chicago Riverfront’s Food & Beverage Director and Executive Chef Mark Kapolnek, who shared some of his favorite grilling recipes with us this summer. Read on to learn what Chef Kapolnek is cooking up to enjoy this holiday season at home with his family.

With the grill put away for the winter, my at-home cooking moves indoors where I tend to prepare a lot of soups, stews and roasts. But my favorite dish to prepare during the winter and holidays is a one-pot whole roasted chicken. It requires minimal prep time, feeds the whole family and is quite delicious. I love how I can prepare the whole dish well ahead of time, spend the day with family and toss it in the oven a couple hours before eating. Use whatever hearty vegetables you have on hand and add lots of herbs and olive oil. Once cut up, this dish works great for a family style meal service where we can all gather around the table and enjoy one another’s company. Plus, clean-up is easy, and we often have leftover chicken to shred and save for tomorrow’s salad.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, giblets removed

12 red bliss potatoes, quartered

5 large carrots, peeled and biased cut

1 head of garlic, cut in half lengthwise

Fresh Thyme, bunch

Fresh Rosemary, bunch

Fresh Sage, bunch

Olive Oil, Butter, Salt and Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 380 degrees.

Toss potatoes and carrots with about 2 TBSP olive oil. Season generously with salt and chopped thyme and rosemary. Lay evenly on bottom of pan. Create a circle out of aluminum foil; this will allow your chicken to be able to sit atop your vegetables without steaming them and allow heat to better cook the bottom of your chicken.

On a cutting board, stuff your chicken with fresh thyme, rosemary and sage. Truss your chicken, then proceed to rub all surface areas with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place seasoned chicken in pan on top of aluminum foil. Place garlic head on sides of chicken for proper roasting.