Kippy Spilker/Nevada Appeal
Fall has arrived and what better time than cooler weather to prepare a meal that uses the oven, creating a warm, cozy feeling in and filling your home with wonderful aroma.
Butt Kicking Beer Can Chicken is one of my favorites for an easy Sunday dinner. Karen and I like to go to church so I put this in before we leave and when we return, we've got a great meal waiting.
The method of cooking the chicken over the can of beer keeps the chicken moist, yielding an end result that is tender and juicy.
I prefer to use organic, free-range chicken available locally at many stores including Trader Joe's, where I buy mine. While there, I suggest purchasing their Rainbow Pepper Blend and small heirloom variety potatoes to use in preparation.
Butt Kicking Beer
Can Chicken
Serves four
Ingredients
1 16-ounce can of beer - your choice
1 4 pound chicken
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 teaspoon Trader Joe's Rainbow Pepper Blend
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 baking potatoes or 25 fingerling potatoes
4 large carrots
6 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
Pour one-third of the beer into a roasting pan and take a couple swigs leaving the can half full. A bit of beer does a body good. Add potatoes and carrots cut in 3⁄4-inch thick rounds, as you would for a stew.
Remove the neck and giblets from the chicken and discard. Rinse the chicken inside and out, patting dry with paper toweling. Lightly rub the chicken inside and out with vegetable oil and then with salt, pepper blend and garlic.
Place the beer can (right side up and solidly) in the middle of the roasting pan. Lay three sprigs of rosemary, which is easily found at the market of your choice, over the top of the can. Then place the chicken over the can, using the legs and can to balance the chicken (imagine a tripod).
Bake at 250 degrees for one hour, raising the temperature to 350 degrees for the last half hour, until chicken is brown.
Every oven cooks a little different. To ensure optimal results, make sure the internal temperature to the breast bone is 165 to 170 degrees.
After the chicken is done, gently pull it off the beer can and set aside allowing it to rest for 15 minutes.
Pour whatever beer remains in the can into the roaster.
Cook remaining juices and beer on the stove top, reducing liquids by 50 percent. Using a slotted spoon, place vegetables on a serving platter. Carve the legs, thighs, breasts and wings off the bone, gently placing over the vegetables and ladle reduced juices over the top.
Garnish with additional three sprigs of rosemary, placing around platter edges and sprinkle parsley over all.
In addition to the roasted vegetables, I recommend serving the chicken with a crusty bread and a fall salad, such as a beet salad.
Karen and I enjoyed a beautiful bottle of Rodney Strong Sonoma Chardonnay with this recently, and it was divine.
• Charlie Abowd is the owner and chef at Adele's. He and his wife, Karen, have lived in Carson City since 1980. Charlie is a fourth-generation restaurateur.
