Guess What…? Chicken Butt!

As you may know, I recently acquired some fancy poultry seasonings from Dean & Deluca as a very sweet gift/ peace-offering from my roomie and I’ve eagerly been wanting to use them on something special. Well,  after coming across a recent article on The Kitchn for roasting a whole chicken in a bundt pan (yup, a bundt pan) I was  immediately hooked to the idea! Not only because I don’t have a roasting pan, but I loved the unique use of a pan that I only use maybe once or twice a year for actual baking purposes. Who doesn’t love a multi-functional kitchen tool?

I decided to use fingerling potatoes as my base with some chunks of onion in the mix. We (the bf and I) lovingly named our 5lb bird Jerard and began to butter him up (not sure why he has a Male name when chickens are obviously female).  After slathering him with butter, I added my fancy seasonings and minced garlic then stuffed him with lemon halves and rosemary. I then plopped  him onto the center piece of the bunt cake pan and stuck him in the oven (I know, I was kinda rough on him).

We left him in the oven at 450 F  for 15 minutes to brown, then turned the oven down to 350 F and let it roast for another 40-45 minutes, or until the skin started “puffing” .  Another way to check for doneness is to poke with a fork; if the juice runs a clear-yellowish color then it should be ready *Suggested from my Julia Child book I got for Christmas.

I didn’t have a thermometer on hand so I went about poking my bird every 10-15 minutes until I thought it was ready, but if you have a thermometer just roast it until it the breast registers 155 F. 

And here he is nicely plated with the potatoes perfectly cooked in the juices that fell off our bird along with my go-to simple salad. It was so easy and delicious! Feel free to share any other uses you think this pan could be used for. I’ve been brainstorming possible meatloaf or monkey bread options.