The quality of the chicken is important here – look for a free-range bird with good colour in the meat for best flavour. The beurre noisette, or brown butter dressing, is thicker than an oil-based vinaigrette, and may congeal a little in cooler weather; simply warm it in a bowl placed over hot water.
Ingredients
Beurre noisette dressing
Method
Main
1.Preheat oven to 200C. Rinse chicken inside and out, then pat dry with paper towels and place in a roasting pan. Season well, rub skin with olive oil and roast until chicken is golden and juices run clear when thigh is pierced with a skewer (about 1 hour). Cool to room temperature, then remove leg meat, coarsely break up and place in a bowl. Remove breast meat from bones, thickly slice and add to leg meat (reserve bones for stock).
2.Meanwhile, place beetroot in a large roasting pan with 60ml water, drizzle with oil, season to taste, cover with foil and roast, shaking pan occasionally, until tender (20-30 minutes). When cool enough to handle, peel and halve.
3. Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until nearly tender (8 minutes), then turn off heat and stand in water to continue cooking until tender (5 minutes). Drain and halve.
4.For beurre noisette dressing, cook butter in a saucepan over high heat until foaming and nut-brown (4-5 minutes). Meanwhile, bring vinegar and shallot to the boil in a small saucepan and reduce by half (3-5 minutes). Add to butter, transfer to a blender, add verjuice and good pinches of salt and pepper, and blend until smooth. Check seasoning and set aside.
5.Combine beetroot and potatoes in a bowl, dress with beurre noisette dressing and toss to combine. Serve topped with sliced chicken, herbs and mâche leaves, drizzled with beurre noisette dressing and seasoned with a pinch of piment d’Espelette to taste.
Piment d’Espelette, a French dried flaked chilli, is available from herbies.com.au. Drink suggestion by Max Allen
Notes
