Provençal Roasted Chicken with Pears & Shallots (PLUS a WOLF Gourmet Countertop Oven Giveaway!)

A lot of firsts on the blog today! #1– This is my first official MEAT recipe! Meat-eaters rejoice because this organic roasted chicken is perfection!! And, #2– Wolf Gourmet has so kindly offered their Countertop oven up for a giveaway which is at the end of this post. And after using this oven for weeks now, I can honestly say, this is one giveaway you’ll want to enter. The oven is so sophisticated and works like a dream, my two favorite added features are:

• It’s a convection oven – meaning the air inside circulates for super-even cooking AND faster cooking time!!
• The temperature probe – which will tell you when meat is done… which means no guess work for you, no half-done chicken or burned salmon.
• And wait, a 3rd thing: It’s beautiful.

WIN.

I’ve roasted veggies, baked fries, salmon, and cookies all in this baby and its my favorite oven of choice. It’s getting to the point where if something doesn’t fit in it, it just doesn’t get made. It’s called portion control, folks.

Anyway, I’ll stop raving about the oven now and talk about this incredible bird. After visiting France this past summer… seeing lovely roasted chicken everywhere and falling in love with Provençal cooking, which is simple yet comforting all at once, has been quite the inspiration. You can catch me making it rain herbs de Provence all over my kitchen any day of the week.

Rubbing the chicken with herb butter under the skin and keeping just salt and maybe pepper on the top is the only technique I’ll ever need for roasting a chicken again. It’s so easy yet tastes like it took you  all day. My husband and I didn’t even get to plate this before it somehow disappeared… hence no real plated shots here, guys. Take the photos yourselves – after you make this. Oh and tag #foodbymars so I get to see. What are you waiting for?!

Provencal Roasted Chicken with Pears & Shallots //serves 3-4

Ingredients

• 3.5lb Whole Organic Chicken
• 3 large shallots
• 3 pears (Bartlett and/or Bosc)
• 4 tbsp organic butter
• 1/2 tbsp herbs de provence (mix of thyme, marjoram, savory, oregano, etc.)
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1/2 tbsp fleur de sel

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 420f degrees (400 w/ convection). Prep a rack over a roasting pan.
2. Slice pears and shallots flat (slice most on the thicker side, but still flat and save some pieces to slice very thinly to stuff the chicken with). Spread thick pears and shallots on top of the rack.
3. Separately, clean chicken by removing insides from the center and discarding (or if you want to cook or make broth, save it for later). Pat chicken dry with paper towels, you don’t want there to be excess moisture to steam the chicken.
4. In a food processor, add cool butter, garlic and herbs and pulse until blended.
5. Using clean hands, spread butter underneath the skin on the: breasts, back, and legs. Clean your hands because they’ll be super oily and transfer the chicken directly on top of your sliced pears and shallots. Do your best to cover them completely as any pears and shallots that are totally exposed may burn.
6. Stuff the chicken’s inside with thinly sliced pears and shallots, you can also spread any excess butter in there.
7. Sprinkle sea salt/fleur de sel over top of chicken and optionally tie the legs and wings with cooking twine (it will keep the meat moist).
8. Pop your bird in the oven and roast for approx. 1hr 20mins (without convection on 420f degrees) or 50min-1hr (with convection on 400f degrees) – do not pull the chicken out until you’ve probed it with a meat thermometer. It’s done when the thickest part of the chicken has reached 165f degrees.
9. Remove chicken and let rest for 10-15 minutes, place on a serving dish with pears and shallots, carve and serve hot!

  The Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven with Convection – can be found at: Sur La Table, Bloomingdales and Frontgate

*Due to some browser issues some of my darling readers were experiencing, I moved this to Facebook. Please enter there and thank you!

Note: Email addresses are only used to contact and notify the winner.

To participate, you must be 18 years or older and reside in the 50 United States or D.C., Hamilton Beach is unable to ship to P.O. Boxes. This giveaway is open until Friday, October 16, 2015 at 11:59pm EST.  One randomly selected winner will be chosen to win a Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven with Convection. The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

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Hope you enjoy!
Would love to have your feedback below and remember to follow me on
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Use #foodbymars to tag your FBM inspired creations! I’d love to see!

**Alison

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Disclosure: I was not compensated to write this post. Wolf Gourmet is generously providing the Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven with Convection for one reader. My opinions are my own.