Add salt to half gallon warm water to dissolve then add remaining half gallon cold. Submerge whole bird and use a plate to keep chicken submerged.  Cover & refrigerate 6-8 hours.

Ingredients

• 1 roaster chicken, free-range, organically fed & free range if possible

• 1 lemon

• 2 Tablespoons Herb du Provence (HDP)

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil plus 1 Tablespoon for greens

• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil

• Coarse sea salt

• Fresh Cracked pepper

• 3 large yellow onions, 1 quartered for cavity of bird, slice the other 2 into ¼ inch slices.

• 1 large bunch of kale, swiss chard and/or collards, go wild and combine, hand tear into large pieces

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 sprig of Rosemary

• 4 whole cloves garlic

• 1 Tablespoon Korean red pepper, crushed

• 1 Tablespoon mustard seeds

Directions

PreHeat 450F

Combine sesame, olive oil, juice of half the lemon in a large bowl and toss bird coating inside and outside. Finish by sprinkling with sea salt, Korean pepper, HDP and mustard seeds. Add remaining half of lemon, quartered onion, garlic, bay leaf and some HDP to inside of cavity.

In a large roasting pan or dish, add collards and toss with sliced onion drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper and toss. Place roaster on top of the bed of greens BREAST side up. 

Place on middle rack of oven, roast for 10 minutes then reduce temperature to 350F and continue to cook 20 minutes per pound. 

If you want to stuff this bird (not counting the lemons, onions etc which are aromatics in this recipe) you can add your favorite bread, rice, mushroom, sausage, walnut stuffing recipes OR I definitely have quite a few options we’ll post later for the holidays. Add 15 minutes to total cooking time for a stuffed bird.

Deborah Stanton