Recipe 2 from the New York Times 20 Best of 2015 - Roasted Chicken Provençal

Crisp, flavorful skin and tender, moist meat

Tonight I made the second of the twenty New York Times Cooking Best 20 of 2015 recipes.  It was also delicious!  It is a good weeknight roast chicken dish that provides juicy, flavorful chicken with a taste of Provence.  

A simple salad and a baguette to sop up the juices and to eat with the softened garlic cloves and shallots would round out the meal nicely - although I put mine over leftover rice - yummy!

I stuck faithfully to the recipe with this exception:  I melted a stick of butter, 1/4 cup of dry vermouth and 1 chicken bouillon cube together to use as a baste for the chicken in the last 20 minutes of cooking.  

Why?  Well - because the pan I used just fit the 8 pieces of chicken thigh; I couldn't get under the chicken pieces to baste it with the rendered liquid and juices.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DISH:

8 bone-in chicken thighs

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (my addition)

½ to ¾ cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons herbes de Provence

1 lemon, quartered

8 to 10 cloves garlic, peeled

8 to 10 medium-size shallots, peeled and halved

1/3 cup dry vermouth

8 sprigs of thyme

BASTING LIQUID:

1 stick (8 ounces) of butter

1/4 cup dry vermouth

1 bouillon cube

Melt all ingredients together in a microwave or a small saucepan. 

PREPARATION:

1.  Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

2.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper (and garlic powder).

3.  Put the flour in a large ziplock bag and lightly dredge the chicken in it, shaking the pieces to remove excess flour.

4.  Drizzle the olive oil in a large roasting pan, and place the floured chicken in it, skin side up.

3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan.

5.  Season the chicken with the Herbes de Provence. 

6.  Arrange the lemon, garlic cloves and shallots around the chicken, then add the vermouth to the pan.

7.  Place a few thyme sprigs on top.

Lightly flour-dredged seasoned chicken with the herbes de Provence, shallots, onions and thyme.

8.  Put the pan in the oven, and roast for 25 to 30 minutes. 

9.  Meanwhile, prepare the basting liquid.

10.  Continue roasting for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken is very crisp and the meat cooked through.

11.  Baste the chicken twice before it is done during the last half of the cooking time.

BASTING:

Baste it with half of the the basting liquid at about 20 minutes before it is done and with the remaining basting liquid 10 minutes before it's done.  I just poured a spoonful of the basting liquid over each piece of chicken.

Serve in the pan or on a warmed platter, drizzled with some pan sauce.

 The chicken smells great and the skin is nice and crispy...with plenty of pan juices.

NOTE:  

I cooked the chicken for the first 30 minutes at 400 F. on a regular bake setting.

After the first half of the cooking was done, the chicken hadn't browned or picked up any color so I set it on 400 F. Convection Roast for the second half hour; basting as directed.  This resulted in a crispy crunchy and flavorful skin while the meat was juicy and tender.