Roasted chicken recipes to spice up a scaled-down holiday dinner
Crook, Jefferson and Deschutes counties are among the 25 counties falling under COVID-19 "extreme risk" status, which means holiday gatherings indoors and out must be kept to six or fewer people from no more than two households. But people can still stay safe this season without going full Scrooge. Keep this year's holiday guest list tight—and the season bright—with a scaled down main dish of roasted chicken.
I like to dry-brine my chicken, spatchcock it (a hilarious and fancy way to say "butterfly it") and then roast it in a cast-iron skillet following the roasting method in America's Test Kitchen's recipe for Crisp Roast Butterflied Chicken. To dry brine: Pat a fresh whole chicken dry with paper towels and then rub it down with salt—getting under the skin on the breast and thighs. For a 4- to 5-pound chicken, use about 2 or 3 tablespoons of kosher salt. Then let it brine for two days in a covered container in the fridge.