The title may sound scary and the size of this bird was frightening, but Chickenzilla was easily the best chicken I have ever had. Three of three family members agree, including our child who was munching a leg in one hand and crispy bits of skin in the other, all the while calling for "More!"
Based on our great success in sourcing local beef, we decided to look for local poultry as well. I had met Marcus Moreland who had both chicken and lamb, and he sold me some of his chickens to "try." I meet him, he has two ginormous birds, two smaller ones and a pack of lamb shanks. He asks me for ten bucks. I tried to force forty on him. He met me at twenty.
"You're nuts," I said. "This is a hundred bucks worth of meat at Whole Foods."
He smiled. And just handed over the bag. He's won us over for good. We'll be buying lamb soon.
You see, the natural meats, even at Whole Foods, are not pastured chickens. They are cage free, meaning they have some access to outdoors, but not true pastured chicken. That natural diet of grasses and bugs supplemented with organic grains. For the first time chicken didn't have an indistinct flavor that could be any tasteless meat. Chicken really does taste like chicken. And, I tell you, it's not what you've been eating all these years. Wow.
Here's the menu for our feast:
Apple-sage Roasted Chickenzilla
1 large pastured chicken
1 apple cut in half
1 rosemary sprig
3 thyme sprigs
1 handful of fresh sage
olive oil
coarse sea salt
balsamic vinegar
pepper
rubbed dry sage
dried rosemary
Preheat oven to 350 degree convection roast if you have a convection oven.
Stuff chickenzilla with the apple and fresh herbs. Pour on some olive oil and balsamic and rub. Rub on some sage and dried rosemary, salt and pepper. Roast for about an hour for an average size bird, or 90 minutes for a chickenzilla. Use a meat thermometer inserted into the fleshy inside part of the thigh up next to the breast. This is the last part of the bird to get done. Temp should read 180 when cooked for safety. The balsamic will caramelize a bit and give the skin a deep golden brown crispiness.
I served this with Roasted Green Beans, and my husband brought home Sage Walnut bread from a local bakery. We also had some sweet potatoes, so I made a sweet-savory roasted blend.
Honey-Sage Sweet Potatoes with Shallots
3 large shallots, peeled and quartered
2 giant sweet potatoes (about 3-1/2 pounds) peeled and diced
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. brown sugar
2 tbs. honey or maple syrup would be even better
liberal shot of fresh ground pepper
coarse sea salt
2 tbs. chopped fresh sage
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Spray heavy baking sheet with cooking spray. Roast potatoes for about 40 minutes, turning at least twice to avoid burning. Toss all ingredients together and spread into one layer on baking sheet. They will be dark golden and crisp when done.
Dessert? No, we just had chicken skin for dessert. It was that good. The only problem now, I muttered to my spouse over a bite of chicken, is that we can't ever get chicken out again. We're ruined. Sad, but so true.
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