Savory Chicken In Bread

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Savory Chicken In Bread  with: Barbara Lynch

With Barbara Lynch

From Food For Thought by Heather Atwood: “Today’s recipe is taken from Barbara Lynch’s wonderful cookbook, “Stir.”   A rustic chicken filled with vegetables and wrapped up in a buttery bread dough, it is perfect picnic fare, Sunday dinner fare, any meal that allows fingers and lots of napkins.  It seems far from Menton’s highly polished cuisine, but Lynch told me the first time she had this dish was at a conference for women chef’s in the southern French countryside, probably not far from the French village for which Menton is named.  “Stir” is one of my favorite cookbooks, pages of approachable dishes with magnificent results, a wonderful gift for the newly engaged who need more seasoned years before they have earned the long, slow elegance of Menton.”  Contact Heather at heatheraa@aol.com. Her blog is at gloucestertimes.com/foodforthought

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 3- to 3 1/2-pound chicken, giblets and excess fat and skin removed, bird patted dry
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg, beaten

Instructions

For the Dough: 1. To make the bread dough, combine the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer  fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix with the paddle, stopping the mixer occasionally to break up bigger chunks of butter with your hand. Add 1/2 cup water and continue mixing until the dough begins to come together. 2.At this point, turn off the mixer and switch to the dough hook (scraping all the dough off the paddle first, of course). Knead the dough with the hook until it comes together in one mass, 1 to 2 minutes. 3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and continue to knead it by hand, pushing it away from you with the heel of your hand, folding it over, giving it a quarter turn, and pushing it away again until it feels nice and elastic. If the dough is very sticky, add a little more flour to it as you knead. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. For the Chicken: 4. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion, rosemary, and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just tender but not colored, 8 minutes. Let cool. 5. Clip the chicken wings off at the body and save for making stock or discard. Season the chicken liberally inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff the bird with the cooled vegetables and tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
Heat the oven to 400° F. 6. On a very lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thick; this will take some muscle. If the dough is very stubborn, let it rest for a few minutes before trying to roll it some more. Put the chicken on the dough breast side down and wrap the dough up and around the bird, encompassing it completely and overlapping the dough. (If there is a lot of overlap, trim the dough.) Pinch the seams together to keep them closed. Turn the bird over and put the bird seam side down on a baking sheet. Brush the dough all over with the egg and sprinkle it lightly all over with salt. 7. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the bread is a lovely golden brown, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken (an instant-read thermometer inserted through the crust into the breast should read 170° F). 8. Let cool for at least an hour, preferably 2, before tearing it apart and serving. Recipe courtesy of Barbara Lynch, “Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition,” 2009.

Chef and Owner of Barbara Lynch Gruppo, a collection of Boston restaurants that include No. 9 Park, B&G Oysters, Menton, Sportello, Drink and The Butcher Shop. She is also the author of a cookbook named "Stir - Mixing It Up In the Italian Tradition." in 1998 when, as executive chef at Galleria Italiana, Barbara Lynch received Food and Wine Magazine's "Ten Best New Chefs in America" award. That same year she opened her own restaurant, No. 9 Park, a fine dining destination on Beacon Hill's Park Street. Bon Appetit named it one of the "Top 25 Best Restaurants in America." Food and Wine Magazine named No. 9 Park "Best New Restaurant." In 2003 Barbara received the James Beard Foundation accolade of "Best Chef of the Northeast." In 2006 Gourmet Magazine declared No. 9 Park one of "America's Top 50 Restaurants." In 2007 Boston Magazine named her "Best Chef." Barbara Lynch has been the subject of two documentaries, and has received the prestigious Crittendon Women's Union Amelia Earhart Award. Julia Child received that one, too.

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