Spring is official, and to prove it, our friends Sandy and Brenda sent me home with an HEB bag full of spring onions when we visited them in San Antonio last weekend. I love green onions, particularly with fresh spring fare, and even more particuarly with fresh lemons. Then, I happened to visit the New Flower Farmer’s Market in South Austin, and found a free range Rosie Chicken.
I just finished eating one of the best roasted birds I’ve ever taken out of my oven. It was seriously loaded with the taste of onions, so you won’t like this if you don’t like them. It was brined over night, then cooked with a cavity full of Sandy’s spring onions and sliced fresh lemons. We ate it with a side of roasted beets with wilted greens, and seared Brussels sprouts.
Thanks to Sandy for the onions, and Brenda for the cute picture of her husband and their dog, Priscilla.
Onion grower. Dane lover. Thanks to Brenda for the picture.
Brine:
¾ cup kosher salt
½ cup pickle juice (I had bread and butter pickles)
Pour salt and pickle juice into a container big enough to hold your bird, but small enough to refrigerate. I was using a 6¾ quart cast iron dutch oven. Add cool water about half way up the container and stir until the salt dissolves. Place the chicken, breast side down into the water and then add more water as needed to cover the bird. Place in the refrigerator for 18 hours or so.
Roast Chicken with Spring Onions and Lemon
4 lb brined free range chicken
olive oil
fresh cracked black pepper
cayene pepper
2-3 cups chopped green onions, white and green parts
2 sliced fresh lemons
Remove the chicken from the brine, and then pat it dry. Remove any remaining pin feathers, and trim excess fat from the cavity opening. Cover the bird in about 1 tbs of olive oil, then season with black and cayenne peppers. Make certain to season the entire exterior, and cavity. Place the chicken in a large dutch oven or roasting pan with wing tips bent back and placed behind the bird. Stuff the cavity fully with one of the sliced lemons, and as much chopped onions as will loosely fit. Sprinkle remaining green onions around the bird, then squeeze the remaining sliced onions over and around it. Drop the lemon slices in the pan.
Roast, covered at 350°F until the internal thigh temperature reaches 120°F. This is where having a digital probe thermometer comes in very handy. There’s no need to remove the set up from the oven to know what temperature you’re at. The chicken I roasted tonight took about 30 minutes to reach this temp. Then remove the lid from the roaster and bring the temperature of the bird to about 165° and the skin to lightly golden, approximatly 30 more minutes. Remove from the oven and let it rest, covered for at least 10 minutes before carving. The chicken will continue cooking for a few minutes when removed from the heat, and should come to at least 170° before you eat it.
Not The Knowing One 