This is a print preview of "Chicken Provencal w/ Honey & Lavender" recipe.

Chicken Provencal w/ Honey & Lavender Recipe
by Amos Miller

Chicken Provencal w/ Honey & Lavender

I wanted to recreate the summery scents and flavors of Provence, France, so this is the result. You can inject this formula between the skin and flesh of a chicken or a duck. You can also baste your bird during the last half hour of roasting. Either way, this is an amazing taste trip to the south of France. If you have a Bandol Rose lying around, you might enjoy this dish even more...

If you grow French lavender, as we do, you want only the flowers for cooking. While I will provide the measures that I use, you should feel free to modify my recommendations as you wish. But I hope that you will try this method at least once. It really is quite unusual and makes a wonderful main course when paired with my Roasted Garlic White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and a Spring Salad with my Lime Vinaigrette Dressing.

I always roast my chickens at a high temperature for 2 hours and I always serve a moist, tender, tasty bird. Try my method once. I will use the ^ symbol for degrees F.

Rating: 5/5
Avg. 5/5 4 votes
Prep time: United States American
Cook time: Servings: 2

Goes Well With: Roasted Garlic White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, Braised Aparagus

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbs culinary lavender, crushed
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 1/2 c. raw wildflower honey
  • 1/2 c sweet butter
  • 1 lemon's juice
  • 1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
  • 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely minced
  • fine sea salt & freshly ground Tellicerry black pepper
  • 1 Roasting chicken, soaked in salt water, rinsed well and dried thoroughly
  • olive oil
  • sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 425^. Clean and dry the bird well and clip the tip joints off the wings
  2. Liberally oil the bird front and back and, over a large serving bowl, liberally sprinkle the sea salt and the black pepper. Truss the bird, wing and legs. Set aside as you prepare the seasoning infusion liquid
  3. Crush the lavender flowers in a mortar to bruise and release the oils - you are not pulverizing the blooms, you are releasing the perfume
  4. In a small sauce pan, bring together, the lavender, honey, butter, garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Heat over a med-low flame for about 10 minutes to marry all the flavors, then strain the liquid and discard all the solids
  5. Fill a culinary injection syringe with the liquid and, entering at the neck, inject fluid into the back, between the skin and the meat. Then inject the fluid between the breast meat and skin, then the thighs and legs. Reserve the remaining fluid
  6. Carefully lay the bird, breast up, on a rack in a roasting pan to which you have added as much water as possible without touching the bottom or your roasting rack
  7. Roast the bird for 1 1/2 hours at 425^, then remove the roasting pan from the oven and baste the bird liberally with the remaining liquid.
  8. Return the bird to the oven and roast 1/2 hour more.
  9. Remove and let rest for 10 minutes, then carefully cut and remove the trussing string.
  10. You may halve or quarter the bird with poulty shears.