Hot Honey Roast Chicken with Fennel, Red Onion and Carrot

I hit send on a group message to a few friends ‘who’s in for Friendsgiving?’ Within a few hours, a date was set and we divvied up who would bring appetizers, desserts and drinks. I promised the main dishes and set about coming up with a menu.

After falling down the dark hole of internet recipes, and getting stuck in indecision, I finally asked myself what sounded good to make. As much as I enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal; I really love to experiment and I’m always open to a surprise or two at the table each year.

From there, I decided to ditch the traditional turkey. Don’t get me wrong, I love turkey and I’ve got a fail-proof recipe that’s been well documented right here in the Yakima Herald and over on my blog, thesaltandstone.com. You can find it in the archives on either site. But this year, I was in the mood for something different. I settled on a savory roast chicken cooked on a bed of fall root veggies and I can honestly say I’ve never made a better chicken. Whether you make this for your holiday meal or not, bookmark the recipe for sometime this winter; I promise you won’t regret it. Don’t be afraid of the hot honey when you see it in the recipe. The chicken is not spicy at all but you could always skip it and use regular honey instead. Also, you could use this recipe using a turkey instead of a chicken.

Hot Honey Roast Chicken with Fennel, Red Onion and Carrots

• 5-pound whole chicken, innards removed

• 2 cups buttermilk

• 1/2 cup softened butter

• 2 tablespoons hot honey

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

• 1 large purple onion

• 1 fennel blulb

• 2 medium carrots

• 1 cup apple cider

The night before you plan to make this recipe, place whole chicken in a bowl and cover in buttermilk. Using tongs, rotate the chicken in the buttermilk so that it’s entirely covered in buttermilk before covering the bowl with plastic wrap and storing in the refrigerator. Ideally, this is done the night before, but can also be done 4 to 6 hours leading up to cooking the chicken. The buttermilk tenderizes the meat and acts as a brine.

When you’re ready to roast the chicken, start by preheating your oven to 450 degrees. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk and give it a quick rinse in cold water. Using paper towels pat the chicken dry. Set it aside while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

Peel the onion and rough chop it. Trim the stalks on the fennel before chopping into bite size pieces. Peel the carrots and slice into 2-inch pieces. Put the vegetables along with 2 sprigs fresh thyme into a cast iron pan or dutch oven.

In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, hot honey, paprika, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon Kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper along with the leaves of two sprigs of fresh thyme. Use a fork to mix the ingredients until well-combined.

Place chicken on top the bed of chopped vegetables. Sprinkle the chicken with the remaining teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Using clean hands, coat the entire chicken in the honey butter mixture, including between the skin and breast meat. Don’t forget to do the wings, legs and underside of the bird. Add the apple cider into the pot (don’t pour over the chicken) and cover with a lid or tin foil.

Place the chicken in the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 400 degrees. Cook for 60 to 75 minutes removing the tinfoil at the halfway point. An internal thermometer placed into the breast should read 165 degrees. Remove from the oven and allow to rest at least 10 minutes before carving. Serve the chicken along with a few of the caramelized vegetables from the bottom of the pan. Serves 6.