Roast chicken is, for me, the ultimate Jewish comfort food. It’s hard to imagine Friday night without it. Yet although chicken has been a staple of Shabbat and holiday dinners since the Middle Ages, it is only relatively recently that people began to roast it. Historically, Jews simmered the chicken with rice or made a tagine or fricassee of it. Ashkenazi Jews would boil it, serving the soup as a first course and cutting off the breasts to make cutlets for the Shabbat main dish.
Roast Chicken Stuffed With Preserved Lemon and Herbs
April 18, 2021
Ingredients
For the Roast Chicken Stuffed With Preserved Lemon and Herbs
- 14-to-5 pound chicken
- 5cloves garlic: 4 whole, 1 sliced in half
- 4tablespoons olive oil
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1lemon (either a fresh lemon, or preserved—see recipe below)
- 2sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2sprigs fresh thyme
- 2sprigs fresh sage
- 2medium onions, quartered
- 2celery stalks, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 2carrots, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 3medium beets, quartered
- 1fennel bulb, quartered
- 1celery root, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 1pound potatoes, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 1fresh lemon, thinly sliced
- Other vegetables of your choice, including zucchini, winter squash, tomato, string beans, etc.
- 1cup dry white wine
- 2tablespoons preserved lemon liquid, optional
- 2tablespoons chopped parsley, to garnish
For the Preserved Lemons, adapted from Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous (Knopf)
- 8lemons, about 1 1/2 pounds
- ½cup kosher salt, plus more if necessary
- 1cup fresh lemon juice, plus more if necessary
- 3fresh bay leaves
- 2tablespoons olive oil
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Preparation
To make the Roast Chicken Stuffed With Preserved Lemon and Herbs
- Step 1
Rinse and thoroughly dry the chicken. A wet chicken will steam rather than roast, so be diligent. Put the chicken in a large Pyrex roasting pan and rub the skin with the cut sides of the sliced garlic clove. Reserve the garlic for later.
- Step 2
Brush 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over the chicken and sprinkle generously with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Step 3
Insert the preserved or fresh lemon and cut garlic clove into the cavity of the chicken, followed by the rosemary, thyme, and sage.
- Step 4
Scatter the 4 garlic cloves, onions, celery, carrots, beets, fennel, celery root, potatoes, lemon slices, and any other vegetables of your choice around the chicken, nestling them together if necessary. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with most coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour white wine and preserved lemon liquid, if using, over the vegetables.
- Step 5
Put the pan in a cold oven. Then raise the heat to 375 degrees and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, basting occasionally until golden and cooked through.
- Step 6
Remove the lemon from the cavity and let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, spoon the vegetables onto a serving platter, leaving space in the middle for the chicken. Chop up the lemon and scatter it over the vegetables. Set the chicken in the center of the vegetables and serve.
To make the Preserved Lemons, adapted from Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous (Knopf)
- Step 1
Cut off the very ends of each lemon. Cut each one lengthwise into quarters, cutting to, but not through, the opposite end. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of salt into the cut sides of each lemon.
- Step 2
Put the lemons in a large jar (it is fine if you have to squeeze them in as they will shrink), and cover completely with lemon juice and push in the bay leaves. Let sit on the counter for one day.
- Step 3
The next day, if not covered with lemon juice, pour a thin film of olive oil over the lemons. This will help keep them sealed while they preserve. Put the jar in the refrigerator or on a shelf and allow to cure for at least 3 weeks. Before using, scrape off the pulp if desired.
Yield: 8 preserved lemons