A Beautiful Sunday Chicken Dinner

This all came together with fabulous flavor from the fresh rosemary and fresh parsley and the spices on the outside of the chicken. Rotisserie chicken, fresh green bean casserole, creamy mashed potatoes with a chicken au jus. Feeds 4 - 6 people.

If you don't own a rotisserie oven, use the rotisserie on your charcoal or gas grill. Don't have either, no worries; just use a roasting pan with a rack.

Prepare the chicken:

• 5 lb. roasting chicken
• 1 carrot - rough chop
• small to medium sized onion - cut in large chunks
• 2 springs fresh rosemary
• 1 small handful fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp. granulated garlic
• 2 tbsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. table salt
• 1/3 stick softened butter

1. Wash and clean out the neck and organs in the chicken, saving them. Thoroughly dry the chicken with paper towels.
2. Make the spice rub from the list of dry spices above in a small bowl.
3. Insert into the cavity of the bird, the carrot and about half of the onion chunks, the rosemary and parsley.
4. Tie up and truss the chicken. I found a video which should help.
5. Rub the softened butter all over the bird and liberally sprinkle with some of the rub mixture.
6. Rotisserie the chicken or roast in a 350° oven for about 1 and 1/2 hours until you reach a safety internal temperature of 165°. You can test this by inserting an instant read thermometer into the leg of the chicken and go closest to the bone.

Here's the Video

For the chicken au jus:

My rotisserie has a drip pan which is how I was able to make a wonderful au jus which I thickened slightly. If you are roasting in a conventional oven place the chicken on a rack. If you are using a rotisserie grill, place a large sheet pan directly under the bird.

• 1/2 of the remaining onion you cut up
• 2 small carrots - cut in chunks
• the neck and kidney and liver you saved
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1/3 cup chicken broth - plus more for later on
• 1 tbsp.cornstarch and 2 tbsp. tap water for a slurry
• 1/8 tsp. gravy master®

1. Place all of the above ingredients (except the cornstarch and water) in the drip pan or the roasting pan.
2. When your chicken is done and resting, pour the contents of the drip pan into a sauce pot using a fine strainer. Let that rest until all the liquid has dripped down and throw the contents of the strainer away.
3. There will be fat and I used my fat separator to help. You can use a ladle to skim the excess fat on the top and discard it.
4. Place the sauce pot over medium heat. Add the gravy master and about 1/2 cup more chicken broth and whisk to combine.
5. While this is coming up to a bubble, make the slurry in a small bowl.
6. Turn the heat up under the pan and slowly pour in the slurry while whisking until you have achieved the thickness that you want.
7. Taste for any additional salt or pepper and you are ready to serve.

We served this wonderful chicken and au jus with some creamy mashed russet potatoes and my Fresh Green Bean Casserole.

As to the cost, I did this to the penny. Make this when the whole chickens go on sale for $.99 or $1.09 per pound and you really save even more. The total cost per person for the WHOLE dinner came to $3.50 and that was paying premium price for the chicken. It would drop off at least a dollar per person getting the chicken on sale.