Anchovy-butter chicken with chicken fat croutons
This was very delicious, however the cooking instructions didn't work as written and I had to adapt them. I recommend following the online recipe as it seems to have been updated.
My chicken was 4 pounds (recipe is for 3.5 - 4 lb). After massaging the chicken with a butter / anchovy / garlic mixture it is stuffed with a halved head of garlic and some herbs. Large quartered shallots are added to the pan.
The chicken is first cooked at 425F for 25 - 35 min (I went with 35 min; the website recipe says 40 - 45 min), then at 350F for 25 - 30 min (I went with 30 min; website says 30 - 35 min at 325 F).
Then the chicken is cut up into pieces, torn pieces of rustic bread are added to the pan to soak up the chicken juices, and the oven temp is raised up again to 425F.
At that point I realized my chicken was too pale so I added them back to the pan and cooked until brown. At the end the breasts were sadly overcooked (and the garlic was very under cooked). Anyway, the chicken with all the butter and anchovies still tasted delicious so I would make it again, ensuring that the chicken is well browned before lowering the oven temperature. Probably another 10 minutes would have done it in the first step! I would recommend following the online rather than the book recipe.
