Roast Chicken With Meyer Lemon Shallot Sauce

Submitted by Brookelynne26

"From Sunset Magazine. Their notes regarding the recipe: Salting the chicken hours ahead instead of just before cooking makes the meat more flavorful. For crisper skin, don't truss the legs before roasting."

 

• Ready In: 5hrs
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 (4 -5 lb) chicken
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 medium meyer lemons
• 2 1⁄2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 lb shallot
• 1⁄2 - 3⁄4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1⁄3 cup dry white wine

directions

1. Rinse chicken inside and out; pat dry with paper towels. Loosen skin of breast and thighs and work some salt under skin. Rub remaining salt all over chicken and in cavity (see Notes). Chill, uncovered, at least 3 hours and up to overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F Zest lemons. Slice 1 lemon; juice half of the other.
3. Pat chicken dry, inside and out. Rub zest under as much of the skin as possible and rub any remaining zest inside cavity. Rub chicken all over with 1 tablespoons olive oil and the thyme. Put lemon slices in cavity.
4. Set a V-shaped rack in a heavy roasting pan large enough to hold shallots. Put chicken in rack, breast side up. Add shallots to pan and drizzle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, turning them to coat.
5. Roast chicken, basting every 30 minutes or so, until chicken leg moves easily and skin is brown and crisp, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours (remove shallots after 1 hour and set aside). Tip chicken so juices from cavity pour into roasting pan. Transfer chicken to a carving board and let rest, covered with foil.
6. Meanwhile, make sauce: Pour pan drippings into a measuring cup with a pouring lip. Trim tops from shallots and squeeze soft insides into a blender. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoons fat from pan drippings and add drippings to blender. Add 1/2 cup broth and the wine and pulse until smooth.
7. Pour sauce into roasting pan. Cook, scraping up brown bits and adding more broth if you want a thinner sauce, over medium-high heat on your biggest burner (or straddling 2 burners) until sauce turns a nutty brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoons reserved Meyer lemon juice, or more to taste. Pour sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a serving bowl. Carve chicken, discarding lemon slices; serve with sauce.

Reviews

[bvisailor]

I ADORE this chicken! My 2 potted Meyer lemon trees only give me a few precious lemons every year so I have to be extremely selective about how I use them. This highlights the delicate Meyer flavor beautifully. I don't salt the chicken ahead of time and I use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken and it's still absolutely wonderful. The lemony, shalloty, winey gravy is fabulous over mashed potatoes with haricots vert... Making it tonight & can hardly wait!

 

[Chez 4411 chef]

Chicken was flavorful but the sauce had too much shallot/Meyer lemon flavor for our taste