High-Roast Chicken

Saturday night Rominal made dinner for Mom, me and Bailey. He made America's Test Kitchen Crisp-Skin High-Roast Butterflied Chicken with Potatoes. This is one of the best chicken recipes we have had and Rominal makes it for special occasions.

Here's what you need for the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 quarts cold water

Other ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 lbs)
• 2 1/2 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick
• 1 1/2 tbs olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (for potatoes)
• Ground black pepper

Immerse the chicken in the brine and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Line the bottom of a broiler pan with foil and spray with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Remove chicken from the brine and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Cut through the back of the chicken to butterfly it. (I can't really explain this, but if you look at the picture below I think you will understand what to do.) Rominal mixes butter with seasonings (probably garlic seasoning and maybe some other stuff - but nothing with extra salt) and puts this under the chicken skin. Pat the chicken skin dry with a paper towel.

Toss the potatoes with the 1/2 of the oil, salt and pepper and then spread them in an even layer on the foil lined broiler pan bottom. Place the broiler pan rack with the chicken on top. Rub the chicken with the remaining oil and sprinkle with pepper.

Roast the chicken at 500 degrees (yes, I really mean 500 degrees) until spotty brown, about 20 minutes, then rotate the pan and continue to roast until the skin has crisped and turned a deep brown, about 20-25 minutes longer (ours took longer than that). A thermometer stuck in the thickest part of the breast should read 160.

I found a clip of the show, which is good to watch if you plan on making this.











And here's a picture of Rominal's chicken - YUMMY!!!!






And the potatoes. These are so good that they deserve two pictures, but one will have to do.




Rominal and I work so well together - he likes the softer potatoes and I like the crispy ones.

Enjoy!