- 6
Ingredients
- For the broth
- 6 quarts cold fresh water
- 1/4 cup coarse sea salt or 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 1/4 cup (1/4 ounce) dried porcini slices
- 2 bay leaves, preferably fresh
- 1 or 2 pieces hard rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano, if available, rinsed and scraped
- The vegetables
- 3/4 pound leeks, 1-1/2 inches thick, trimmed and rinsed
- 1/2 pound large carrots, trimmed and peeled
- 1/2 pound small parsnips, trimmed and peeled
- 1/2 pound large celery stalks, trimmed
- 3/4 pound celery root, completely peeled and trimmed
- 1 fennel bulb, stalks trimmed and loose outer leaves pulled off
- 8 small onions (each about 2 ounces), peeled
- The chicken and seasonings
- 3-1/2 to 4 pound roasting chicken with giblets
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt
- teaspoon whole black peppercorn
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- 1 small or medium lemon
- For serving
- Salsa Verde
- Sweet Pepper Purée
Preparation
Step 1
Starting the broth and vegetables
Pour the water into the pot, set it over low heat to get started, and add the seasonings—salt, peppercorns, porcini, bay leaves and cheese rind. Cut up all vegetables as follows and drop them into the pot:
Cut the leeks crosswise in 4-inch lengths but don’t slice them open.
Cut the carrots and parsnips crosswise in 3-inch lengths; slice thick sections lengthwise in half or quarters, so all pieces are about 1-inch thick (throw the skinny pointed ends of the parsnips into the broth too).
With a vegetable peeler, shave off the outer layer of the celery stalks, then cut crosswise in 3-inch lengths.
Slice the celery root into 2-inch, roughly square, chunks.
Trim off the tough root end of the fennel bulb but leave the core intact so the leaves are held
together; slice the bulb in 6 or 8 wedges, through the core.
Trim the onions but leave the root end intact so the layers are held together.
When all the vegetables are in the pot, put on the cover and turn the heat to high. Bring the water to a rolling boil, set the cover ajar (I prop it up on a big wooden spoon) and lower the heat to maintain a moderate bubbling. Cook the broth and vegetables for about 30 minutes, while you prepare the chicken.
Prepping the chicken
Remove the giblets and neck from the chicken, rinse well and drop them all (including the liver) into the broth. Rinse the chicken under cold running water. Set it on a cutting board, chop off the tail piece and add it to the pot. Pull off all clumps of fat and discard. Twist and fold the wingtips against the neck, so they stay in place under the breast.
Put the seasonings into the body cavity: the salt, the peppercorns, the smashed garlic cloves and the bay leaves. Rinse the lemon, cut it in half crosswise, squeeze the juice from both pieces into the cavity, then push in the squashed lemon halves too. Press the bird’s legs together, close to the body, so the cavity is covered and the chicken is compact and evenly shaped.
Spread out the cheesecloth square and place the chicken in the center. Lift two diagonally opposite corners, draw the cloth up and around the bird and tie the corners in a simple overhand knot. Tighten the knot so it rests on the chicken breast and the cloth is snug against the bird. Now lift the other corners of cheesecloth and bring them together, tie in another knot and tighten it to wrap the chicken up completely. Tie the loose ends in square knots that won’t unravel.
Finally, cut a length of twine about a yard long (I double it for strength) and tie one end of the twine under the bulging cheesecloth topknots, in a secure knot. You should now be able to lift the cloth-wrapped chicken with the string—test it now, over the work table—because you’ll need to lift the cooked chicken out of the boiling broth the same way.
Cooking the chicken and serving
When the broth and vegetables have been cooking for 1/2 an hour, uncover, and lower the chicken into the broth with your strong string. Make sure the chicken is submerged, then loop the free end of the string around a handle of the stock pot, or any anchor point, so it doesn’t disappear in the pot. Bring the broth back to a good boil, then adjust the heat to keep a steady but gentle bubbling on the surface.
Cook the chicken uncovered for 40 to 50 minutes (less for a smaller chicken, more for a larger one and if you are using capon). Set a big bowl close to the chicken pot. Turn off the heat, grasp your twine and lift the chicken bundle straight up above the stock and lower it into the bowl..
Let the chicken rest in the cheesecloth while you check the vegetables—they should be soft but not falling apart. Cook longer or lift them out of the broth with a spider or other big strainer, into a big bowl. Ladle a bit of hot broth onto the vegetables and cover with foil or a pot lid to keep them warm.
To free the chicken, lift it from the bowl onto a tray, a board or a big piece of foil, which will catch the juices. Cut the twine, untie the cheesecloth knots—try to keep the cloth whole—and unwrap the bird. Spoon out the lemon, bay leaves and other seasonings from the cavity and discard. To keep the chicken warm, put it back into the bowl, doused with fresh hot broth and covered.
To strain the broth, drape the moist cheesecloth inside a colander or large strainer and set it over a big pot or bowl (you’ll still have several quarts of stock). Pour the broth through the cheesecloth. Taste it for flavor, use (and store) as is or bring it to a boil and reduce it if you want to concentrate it.
To make a two course meal, cook some thin pasta such as cepellinin or stelline(little stars) or rice in the broth and serve with some grated parmigiano reggiano for the first course. Then serve the chicken, whole or cut up, on a warm serving platter, surrounded with the vegetables. (If they have cooled off, warm them up in broth). Pass around salsa verde at the table.
For my family, I like to carve the whole hot chicken at the table and assemble, arrange a few pieces of every vegetable around it and spoon 2 tablespoons or more of salsa verde all across the top of the chicken and vegetables with more salsa verde on the side.