chicken – not frog, shark, or snake – tastes like chicken

when top chef first started airing, i was one of the skeptics. without willy wonka’s magical tv, i reasoned, it’s just not possible to be able to live vicariously through chefs in competition the way that one can with fashion in project runway. whereas in project runway, the way we consume fashion is to wear it and see it, in top chef, the way we consume food – eating and smelling it – is impossible.

i realized that, over the past few years, my position on this issue has softened – slightly. every day, i look at seriouseats’ photograzing section to see what other people are making. and through looking at these photos, i’ve found that i have been developing my faculty of being able to tell how something will taste, based on how it looks. the powers of observation will not always hold true, but they do admirably well most of the time. in these photographs, i can see when the onions haven’t been properly browned, when shortbread hasn’t been cooked enough and remains hopelessly pale, when meat is overcooked and looks dry. i can see when a ganache-covered confection has been refrigerated and brought back to room temp too quickly (condensation, and a certain type of slick shininess that isn’t the soft sheen that ganache should have). i can see when something is overly yellow and a custard is too solid from too many egg yolks. and these are things that transcend bad presentation, over-exposed or unfocused photographs, and their related ilk – these are things that you can see that actually make you not want to eat something.

that said, i do bookmark recipes that i find quite often, and the following recipe is an adaptation of something i made tonight. remembering the fridays on which i typically make dinner with mary, the first thing that comes to mind is that we end up eating at 9 or 10pm. usually we don’t end up at the supermarket until 7:30, and then we get home at 8 or 8:30, and then we start cooking – you can see where this is going. determined to eat before 9pm, i bookmarked a recipe for a roast chicken that requires fairly minimal prep – just chop stuff, throw it together, and roast. (the recipe below is wordy because i, in my recipe-writing, am wordy.) this chicken is quicker than a typical roast chicken because it’s roasted in pieces, and you can do all the prep ahead of time, then throw it in the oven the next day.

this recipe is delicious, and though it has a fair number of ingredients, it’s still all about the chicken. this preparation yields a chicken that is tender but toothsome, and tastes very wonderfully of, well, chicken. this is the way you can tell your ingredients are good – if they taste more like themselves than they “usually” do: good potatoes taste “more like potatoes,” good chicken tastes “more like chicken.” but there is also a certain style of cooking that isn’t afraid to season aggressively with herbs and garlic, and those who employ it know that the showcase ingredients can stand up to that aggression. this recipe hews to that philosophy – that chicken is not bland, but has its own flavor, which is enhanced by its accompaniments. it didn’t hurt, either, that the chicken we got was some sort of organic or free-range chicken from the store (we were at the organic foods supermarket because it’s closest to home).

there is a certain the pancetta is a little more subtle than bacon would be, especially when it’s sliced thin, because it gets very crispy but doesn’t burn because of the relatively short baking time. the original recipe uses a lardon-sized dice of pancetta, but when i got mine at the new wine store, they sliced it thin, assuming that i was going to use it in canapes. well, this was a blessing in disguise, because it’s not particularly fair to overpower chicken with bacon, so using the thin ribbons produces more of a textural effect with some salt and a smack of ham. i didn’t use lemon zest, but i think that the addition of a bit of it would help further balance the saltiness of the olives and pancetta. i think the bread is key, too, instead of a traditional starch – the way the bread sops up the herby chicken juices is reminiscent of that nytimes chicken recipe in which you roast a butterflied chicken on top of chunks of bread so that they get soaked with roast chicken juices. just trust me – it’s good.
roast chicken with crispy pancetta

1 chicken, 4 to 5 lbs
1/4c olive oil
1-2T fresh thyme (leaves stripped from stems)
1 1/2T fresh rosemary, chopped fine (this definitely should be fresh; i never use dried rosemary as it tends to stay too hard, and can stick in your throat)
1 medium head garlic
1t freshly ground black pepper
1/2c kalamata olives, pitted (~4 oz, not including the brine)
3-4 ounces pancetta (sliced thin by your butcher)
1c white wine
optional: 1t lemon zest

fresh bread (preferably some sort of hearty multigrain)

1. first, do the prep: strip the thyme from the stems, chop the rosemary. separate the cloves of garlic and smash them, then remove the skin – you’ll want to smash them fairly hard so they break up instead of staying whole, but don’t break up completely. cut the chicken into 10 pieces, leaving the skin on: thighs, wing+drumette, drumstick, breast (quartered by halving lengthwise and crosswise), reserving the back/neck/guts for other uses. (i froze the back to use later for soup.) shred the pancetta into 1/2″ strips with kitchen shears or a knife – the pancetta i got was about 4″ in diameter, and so my strips were about 1/2″x4″ with some smaller bits.

2. in a bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, pepper, and lemon zest (if using) and stir well. place the chicken pieces in one layer in a 9″x13″ baking pan and pour the herb-oil mixture over it, turning the chicken in it to coat. scatter the pancetta over the chicken pieces, making sure it gets coated in some of the herb-oil mixture. scatter the olives between the chicken pieces, rolling in the herb-oil mixture to coat. at this point, if you’re doing this ahead of time, you can cover the pan and refrigerate the chicken until you want to cook it the next day. let it come to room temperature before you put it in the oven for best results – sometimes pyrex can shatter if it’s old and it has to jump temperature too fast.

3. preheat the oven to 450F. put the chicken in, and roast 25 minutes. you’ll hear the oil crackling but don’t worry – that’s normal. after the 25 minutes, open the oven and drizzle the wine over the chicken. continue roasting for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. remove from oven and cool slightly to allow the meat to rest. serve with hunks of bread to sop up the sauce; don’t forget to make a side of veg to complete the meal.

prep time: 20-30 minutes
cook time: 30-40 minutes

[serves 6-8]