When I think of American culture, one hundred percent the name Jacques Pépin comes to mind. His career from presidential chef to culinary director and recipe developer at Howard Johnson’s, to cooking teacher, celebrates American culture and represents to my refugee students here at Emma’s Torch, the story of an immigrant’s journey. In honor of Jacques, I’m making this dish that features the technique of boning a chicken.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Sunchokes

Recipe details

Serves

4

Jerusalem artichokes, known as sunchokes, wild sunflower or topinambur is a species of sunflower native to central and North America. It’s not an artichoke and it isn’t from Jerusalem, it is a tuber that’s treated as a root vegetable.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Sunchokes and Sunflower Seed Gremolata

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces sunchokes, scrubbed well and dried
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • 10 bay leaves
  • 6 sprigs parsley
  • 6 sprigs thyme
  • 6 sprigs oregano
  • 4 sprigs sage
  • 1 deboned whole chicken (see below)
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Canola oil

Sunflower Seed Gremolata

  • 1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 1 cup chopped toasted sunflower seeds
  • ½ cup chopped dried cherries
  • 2 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F.
  2. For the roasted sunchokes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the sunchokes into bite-sized pieces. Toss in the olive oil, season with 2 teaspoons of salt and spread on the prepared sheet. Roast until tender and golden brown, about 1 hour.
  3. For the roasted chicken. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set a cooling rack on top. Scatter the bay leaves and sprigs of parsley, thyme, oregano and sage over the rack to create a bed for the chicken.
  4. Lay the chicken flat, skin side down. Season the meat side generously with salt and pepper. Turn and season the skin side generously with salt. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add about 2 tablespoons of canola oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once it is smoking, gently place the chicken in the pan, skin side down, being sure all of the skin is in contact with the hot pan. Sear until the skin is an even golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and lay, meat side down, on the bed of herbs. Transfer to the oven and cook until an instant read thermometer registers 165˚F in the thickest part of the thigh, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to a cutting board to rest for 10 minutes.
  5. In a medium bowl, combine the parsley, sunflower seed, cherries, lemon zest and juice, chili flakes, salt, pepper for the gremolata. Add enough oil to bring it together.
  6. To serve, cut the chicken into quarters.  Toss the sunchokes with a few tablespoons of the gremolata and spoon onto the center of a serving plate. Arrange the chicken on top of the sunchokes and spoon more of the gremolata over the top. Serve the remaining gremolata in a bowl or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Deboned Whole Chicken

Ingredients

  • 1 (3-4 pound) whole chicken

Method

  1. Pat the chicken with paper towels to remove any excess moisture on the skin. Remove the wings at the drumette (the first joint of the chicken wing) by cutting through the joint. Trim the excess fat from the bottom of the chicken.
  2. Turn the chicken breast side down. Carefully, starting at the neck, make a narrow cut along one side of the backbone and begin to remove the meat cutting carefully to include the oyster. Continue making narrow cuts until you reach the tail end. Loosen the skin to get a clear visual of where you are cutting. Continue cutting to loosen the meat from the backbone until you reach the wing joint and the leg joint. Separate the wing and leg joints by cutting through the socket joints. Next, loosen the meat along the collar bone (wishbone), follow the ribcage down, releasing the meat to the breastbone (keel bone). Repeat on the other side of the chicken. Lift the carcass and cut away the meat along the keel bone, being careful not to cut through the skin. Save the carcass for stock.
  3. To remove the leg bones, working one leg at a time, cut along each side of the thigh bone, then trim around the knee joint to release the bone. Next, cut along both sides of the drumstick bone and release the meat. Cut off the knuckle and release the bone. Reserve the bones for stock. You are left with a boneless–with the exception of the drumette–whole chicken.