French Fridays with Dorie - roast chicken for les paresseux

It's Friday...yippee!  That means it's time to share another French Fridays with Dorie adventure with all of you.  Since we are still in November, that means we still get to choose which of the four recipes to make.  I've already made the caramel-topped semolina cake and the pumpkin-gorgonzola flans and had the roast chicken and the pommes dauphinois still to choose from.  Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I decided I'd better make these two together, just in case I run out of time (or energy) near the end of the month.  Today I'll share my roast chicken experience and next Friday I'll share the pommes dauphinois.

Since I started doing the FFwD blog posts, I've been exposed to all sorts of wonderful blogs about cooking, food and eating.  Some really talented folks are sharing their creations with us (you can see them here).  After looking at many, many food blogs...I realized that my photos are just not up to par.  For one main reason...lighting!  I know not to shoot with my direct flash, so I'm trying to use ambient light.  The problem with that is I'm often shooting the final product after the sun has gone down.  So my ambient light consists of my overhead kitchen lights.  Just not as nice as sunlight.  I'd just like to say that I realize my photos aren't that great yet...and I'm working on it.  Soon, my photos will look as good as my food tastes (oh yes, don't be fooled...my food does taste great!  I'm not being immodest...since I'm just following a recipe...I'm not really giving myself that much credit...pick a great recipe...end up with great food!)

I've told you this long sob story about my pictures because this week and next week I don't have any process photos.  I was setting up to take a series of process photos in my living room (where the natural light was fabulous), when company arrived (you know who you are)!  So, I had to stop taking photos and just get on with the cooking.  The lesson I learned is if I'm cooking a FFwD recipe to blog about it, I shouldn't cook it when company's coming (unless it can be made in the morning).  Because I can not cook, take good photos, and entertain company all at the same time.  Ha!

What I can do is cook very tasty food and have a good time with my friends and family.  The roast chicken for les paresseux (lazy people) is hands down the best damn chicken I've ever eaten.  Hands down!  And I think I know the trick that made it so darn good.  Following Dorie's instructions, I flipped the bird over, after it was done, and let it set while I finished cooking the rest of dinner.  The slice of breast meat that I got was succulent.  It was so tender and juicy and tasted like pure essence of chicken.  It was like I had used the sous-vide method to cook it!  I fell in love with this chicken.  Even St. James said "you know, we eat a lot of chicken, so I'm not so crazy about chicken, but this was a good chicken!"  I count that as high praise.  If you want the recipe (and trust me, you want this recipe), you can find it in Dorie's book.

Chickie for lazy people, half way done

Chickie for lazy people, all the way done

Also, did I mention that I had 11 folks for dinner and only cooked one chicken because my lower oven stopped working and I could only fit one chickie in my upper oven.  So, I grilled bone-in chicken breasts on the grill also, to fill in.  When I passed the roast chicken around, I told folks they could all take a little bit, so everyone could try it.  I felt like a terrible hostess...but no one seemed to mind.

I bet many of you are wondering about the bread trick.  Well, I hate to mention it, because I did not share it with my guests.  I put 4 slices of baguette under the chicken and what came out was so close to heaven that I gobbled it all up myself (without the chicken liver...because I'm just not much of a chicken liver kind of girl).  I did take a photo of it, but I'm not sure it does it justice (plus, it's not in focus...bummer).  It was crispy and full of chicken flavor (I did let St. James have one bite and said it was good, but that it was just like eating chicken skin...which I absolutely adore, so no wonder I liked it so much).  For my guests who are reading this, sorry I didn't share.  It's clear I don't really love you enough, and for that I'm sorry.  For eating all the chicken bread myself...I'm not so sorry.