Cooking with Crosby Roamann: Roast Chicken with Olives

It’s probably our favorite meal in the world … so there, I said it. No trip to Paris is complete for our family if we don’t visit Restaurant Allard, Alain Ducasse’s staple bistro near the heart of Saint-Germain-de-Pres. We’ve spent years trying to recreate the dishes we found there, and while it will never be exactly the same as sitting in the back of their small Parisian dining room and enjoying truly fine French bistro, it comes darn close. Enjoy this Roast Chicken (or Duck) with olives with our Thanksgiving selections or a magnum of Merlot. (The bird pictured here is with some late harvest zucchini form our garden while the olives finished cooking in their gravy).

• 2 tablespoons rendered chicken fat (or substitute 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter).
• 2 pounds chicken wings or backs, cut up.
• 1 chicken or duck (about 4 pounds, well-rinsed, patted dry, and trussed with neck and gizzard reserved.)
• 3 onions minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons superfine flour
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 bouquet garni: 12 parsley stems, 8 peppercorns, 1/4 teaspoon thyme, 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed and 1 bay leaf tied in a double thickness of cheesecloth.
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 8 ounces, brine-cured, pitted green olives
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

In a large, nonreactive stockpot or stovetop casserole, melt the chicken fat over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and reserved duck neck and gizzard. Cook, stirring over medium-high heat, until golden, about 8 minutes. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle on the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the wine, stock, bouquet garni, and tomato paste. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve into a nonreactive saucepan. Discard the solids.

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add olives and boil over high heat for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse well under cold water. Taste an olive. If they are still very salty, repeat the blanching. Add the olives to the strained sauce. Set over low heat and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is just thick enough to coat a spoon, about one to one-and-a-half hours.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Pierce the chicken or duck skin all over with a knife and rub the skin with the butter. Place the bird, breast side down, on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Turn the chicken or duck breast side up. Continue to roast the bird until the juices run clear when you pierce the thigh with a skewer, about one hour more. If you find that the breast is brown before the bird is cooked through, shield the breast by covering it loosely with aluminum foil.

To serve, carve the bird. Arrange the meat on a large serving platter and surround it with the green olives and sauce. Yield: 4 servings.