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Roasted chicken is my absolute favorite comfort food. It reminds me of the roasted chicken my Grandmother Goff would make. The chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and hot rolls! The combination was so delicious! Roasted chicken always brings back so many wonderful memories of our family gatherings.
Great Memories
I remember that the adults would sit around the table in the middle of the kitchen. Meanwhile, us cousins sat around the coffee table in the living room. Of course, back then I never connected the dots. Those cute little chicks she showed us in the hen house, would grow up to be chickens. And these were what she used to prepare our roasted chicken dinners! I was so naive! It wasn’t until I was in my forties, that I learned the truth. A Coworker was telling me about when she grew up on the farm. They raised chickens! She told me (in great detail – I was mortified) about the process of getting them ready for dinner. That’s when it clicked! I honestly had never even thought about it before.
Such a Shock
Can you imagine my horror?!? Picturing my sweet little grandma….. I can’t even say it! Needless to say, I would have starved if I lived on a farm and had to do that. We have it much easier than they did. We can head to the grocery store and pick up an oven ready chicken! We can even pick up a roasted chicken for about $6! Although, her fresh, farm raised chickens were much tastier than today’s marketed chickens.
Luckily, my husband found a recipe that recreates the roasted chicken almost perfectly. Tyler Florence has the recipe his father made for them when he was growing up. It fully captures the crispy skin, and the tender roasted chicken just like my Grandmother made. Sometimes we make his recipe with the spaghetti, garlic cloves, and tomatoes. It is very tasty! But, most times, we make the chicken and cook fettuccine noodles in a seasoned chicken broth.
Let’s Get Started
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Then, while the oven is heating up, remove the back bone out of the chicken. And cut the chicken in half. You should have a breast and leg on each half. Be very careful since you will be working with a sharp knife, or a pair of sharp kitchen scissors. Discard the backbone, neck and giblets (unless you want to use them for stock or cook them). My uncle said the neck was the best part of the chicken. There were 4 boys in that household, so you had to be fast to get it.
Take the two halves of the chicken, lay them in the pan breast side up. Sprinkle them with salt pepper, and paprika. This adds a lot of flavor to the skin. Use a large roasting pan so that the chicken fits nicely without being crowded.
Get the Roasting Started
Once the oven temperature has reached 450 degrees, put in the chicken. Set a timer for 1 hour and your roasted chicken is on its way to perfection. If you are having pasta with your chicken, start cooking the pasta when there are 20 minutes left. This will guarantee it is ready to add to the roasted chicken drippings.
Another Twist
To cook the pasta, I use chicken broth. I add 1 teaspoon of “better than bouillon” chicken flavor, sprinkle in Montreal Chicken Seasoning, and some freshly ground pepper. Two cups of broth is enough to cook the noodles, but not be too soupy. The goal is to cook down the broth so that you have a slight sauce to coat the noodles. You do not need to drain the noodles. Simply pour them into the pan mixing them into the drippings from the chicken.
To have a nice sauce, place the whole peeled garlic cloves and whole grape tomatoes, in a bowl. Drizzle them with olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. Allow them marinate while the chicken is roasting for 40 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato mixture to the roasting pan and continue to roast for another 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and place the roasted chicken on a plate. Then, mash the cooked garlic and tomato mixture. Toss in the cooked spaghetti or fettuccine noodles, add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and serve with the roasted chicken.
Either way, this is a pretty simple recipe to get a hearty meal with few ingredients. And, it comes out perfectly every time!
Enjoy!
Roasted Chicken with Noodles
Equipment
- 1 Roasting Pan
- 1 Saute Pot For Cooking the Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 Whole Chicken Remove Backbone & Cut in Half
- Kosher salt Can substitute sea salt, to taste
- Pepper Freshly Ground, to taste
- 1 tsp Paprika
Noodles
- 8 oz Pasta Noodles Fettucini or Spaghetti
- 2 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 tsp Better than Bouillon, Chicken
- 1 tsp Montreal Chicken Seasoning
- Pepper Freshly Ground, to taste
Sauce Ingredients
- 6 cloves Garlic, peeled
- 1 pint Grape Tomatoes
- 1 tsp Olive Oil for drizzling
- Kosher Salt Can substitute sea salt, to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
Roasted Chicken
- Pre-Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Remove the backbone of the chicken & cut the breast in half. There will be one breast and leg on each half.
- Discard the backbone, giblets and neck, or save to use later.
- Lay the chicken in a large roasting pan – breast side up
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika
- Place in the oven once the temperature reaches 450 degrees.
- Roast for 40 minutes, if using the tomato sauce or 1 hour if doing just the noodles.
- Let rest a few minutes, then remove the roasted chicken to a plate.
Sauce
- Add the grape tomatoes, whole garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil to a bowl.
- Allow the tomatoes to marinate for the first 40 minutes that the chicken is roasting.
- Add the tomato mixture to the roasting pan and let them roast for another 20 minutes with the chicken.
- Remove the roasted chicken from the pan and using a potato masher, mash the tomatoes and garlic mixture together.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce and mix to create the sauce.
- Add the noodles and serve!
Noodles
- Add the chicken broth and 1 tsp of Better than Bouillon – Chicken flavor, and sprinkle in Montreal Chicken Seasoning and pepper.
- Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the packet. The goal is to cook down so that you have a slight sauce to coat the noodles. Do not drain the noodles.
- Add noodles to the pan and mix them into the chicken drippings.
- If you are just doing the noodles, you are done.
