For Christmas Eve dinner, I made roast chicken with root vegetables from the latest edition of Cook's Illustrated
(still my favorite food magazine). I sprung for an air cooled, free range, organic bird. I used baby Yukon Gold potatoes, baby golden beets, and heritage multi-color carrots as the root veggie mixture. I tweaked the brine by adding 1 tablespoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika, as well as 1 lemon (quartered), 10 black peppercorns, and a couple of sprigs each of fresh rosemary and thyme. I also tripled the brine time to 3 hours. After the chicken had finished roasting, I poured off and defatted the pan juices to use as an au jus for the chicken. Highly recommended.
With it I poured a 2006 Domaine Lignier-Michelot Morey St. Denis Premier Cru Les Chenevery. This red Burgundy was a perfect match for the roast chicken. Medium ruby with a small amount of light sediment. Huge bouquet. The first thing you notice on both the nose and the palate is a blast of cherry cola followed by earthy and leafy notes, some vanilla-ish oak, and roses. Grade: 91
