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Oven Roast Chicken with Truffle Salt and Thyme

Day 12 on The 21 Day Sugar Detox and things are still going relatively smoothly. Bill finally feels really, really great. It took him about 8 days to detox from sugar, but now he is extremely happy that he made it through, and we have both committed to sticking with the sugar detox for longer than the 21 days. We feel so much better off of sugar, that we do not want to get back into the habit of having sweet tasting things.

I personally had two rough days, emotionally. I felt slightly out of control with my cravings, and in result I munched on too many nuts, which then made me feel even worse. Funny how we do those things to ourselves, right? My workouts have been great, to the point where I just want to workout every single day, but I know that my body needs a rest. My sleep has been okay, but not amazing, which is probably one of the factors that came into play with my mixed up emotions the last two days. I was in a real funk. Stressed, sleepy, and just down in general. Although I may have eaten a bit more nuts than I would have liked, at least I didn’t cave in and have sugar. I have that to be proud of. I’m not perfect, and today is a new day, so I keep telling myself I will not dwell and I will step away from the negative thoughts and focus on the good ones. I would say the sun will come out tomorrow, but it’s snowing in Pittsburgh today, so I guess I will have to make sunshine all on my own.

The other night Bill and I decided to roast our chicken that we received from Pellegrino Pastures. Sylvio Pellegrino is the farmer who owns Pellegrino Pastures, and he happens to be one of my mom’s very best friends. He is a wonderful person, and raises his animals as they should be raised. He has several adorable children who play with the animals on the farm and help take care of them as well. His business is a full family operation, and we got to experience it first hand over the summer for his annual pig roast. We have gotten two lambs from Sylvio so far, and each have been absolutely wonderful. This winter, we purchased a lamb from Sylvio, a chicken and he threw in some chicken feet for us to make stock.

When we opened up the package that the chicken was in we couldn’t help but laugh. The chicken still had it’s neck! You know you have a locally raised animal sitting on your kitchen counter when you have to remove its neck yourself. Don’t worry folks, it’s not scary. For this recipe we stuffed the chicken with a fist of garlic, fresh thyme, and rubbed the entire chicken in duck fat. Duck fat really enhances the flavor of a roasted chicken, so if you can get your hands on some good quality duck fat we highly recommend it! It is one of our most prized possessions in the kitchen. If you do not have duck fat on hand, then we would recommend using butter for this recipe. If you for some reason choose not to eat butter, or cannot eat butter, then you can just go without the added fat. We would recommend pricking the skin of the chicken carefully all over with the tip of a sharp knife so that the natural fat from the chicken releases a bit easier.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pastured chicken
  • 2 tablespoons of duck fat or grass fed butter
  • 1 fist of garlic, top trimmed to expose the cloves
  • A handful of fresh thyme
  • Truffle Salt to taste (if you do not have truffle salt you can use regular salt)
  • Pepper to taste
Process:
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Rinse chicken under cool water including the body cavity.
  3. Pat dry thoroughly, including the body cavity.
  4. Massage melted duck fat over the entire chicken including the body cavity.
  5. Place chicken in a roasting pan.
  6. Carefully lift the skin of the chicken on the breast side, and rub duck fat over the entire breast.
  7. Stuff the body cavity with a fist of garlic and fresh thyme.
  8. Sprinkle the chicken with truffle salt on all sides.
  9. Sprinkle the chicken with pepper on all sides.
  10. Roast chicken 25 minutes per pound, or until it reaches 165 in the breast, be sure to baste with pan drippings toward the end of roasting.
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    COMMENTS

    1. January 13, 2012

      That looks yummy with the duck fat. I just wanted to mention a couple of things (chef here), if you don't prick the skin, and you let the bird rest for 15 minutes on the counter after removing from the oven the juices will redistribute themselves throughout the meat instead of running out of the holes of the skin..or running out if you slice into it when it comes directly out of the oven. It produces a superbly moist bird.

    2. January 13, 2012

      You guys rock! I am so glad you are feeling so good. We are too! I just love the energy the 21DSD is giving us! 🙂 Keep up the great work! (We plan to continue our "detox" as well!)

    3. January 14, 2012

      I've just found your blog and absolutely love it! Thanks for the inspiration guys. After 13 years of veganism, and raw veganism, I'm eating closer to a paleo diet which helped me rebalance.

    4. February 1, 2012

      There is nothing better than a simple roasted chicken. It's comfort food at its finest. One of my favorite things to do is remove the back (save it for stock!) and open the chicken up. It cooks so much faster, when means I get chicken sooner! 🙂

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