Roasted Bacon Chicken

People, if you're gonna roast a chicken, this is the chicken to roast. I saw it first on Elizabeth's Edible Experience. It happened to be a Top Recommended blog on the sidebar in my google reader. A stroll through her blog during one of the most boring days at work (who am I kidding, they're all boring) landed my eyes upon this chicken and I was in awe. I immediately emailed my friend, Dana, and told her, and I quote, "I HAVE TO HAVE THIS!!!!!"

I have to admit, that after making it, my favorite part of this meal was not in fact the chicken (which was, don't get me wrong, the best friggin roasted chicken I've ever made in my life), but it was the gravy! LIQUID GOLD! You can bet your ass that I saved that leftover bacon grease to whip up a similar dinner quicker with boneless breasts on a weeknight. Because although I made this on a Monday, I prefer to make more time consuming dinners on Sundays.

Seriously though, if you love bacon, if you love chicken, if you love gravy, you've gotta make this!

ROASTED BACON CHICKEN

Source: adapted from Williams-Sonoma

2 bone-in chicken breasts

olive oil, as needed

freshly ground pepper

4 slices bacon, cut in half

2 Tbsp finely diced shallot

1 1/2 cup chicken broth, separated

2 tsp all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp cold unsalted butter

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1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Set a wire rack in a roasting pan.

2. Rinse and dry chicken. Drizzle with olive oil and rub in. Season with fresh ground pepper. Lay strips of bacon over each breast. Transfer breasts to roasting pan.

3. Roast chicken, uncovered, in oven 45-60 minutes or until no longer pink (my breasts took 50 minutes and came out super juicy and completely cooked). If bacon begins to get too dark, cover loosely with foil until chicken is done.

4. Remove chicken to a cutting board and tent loosely with foil.

5. Remove wire rack and drain all but 2 tsp. of bacon grease.

6. Set roasting pan with the reserved bacon grease over medium-high heat. Add diced shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened (about 1-2 minutes).

7. Add about 1/2 cup of chicken broth and whisk in the flour. Add remaining 1 cup of chicken broth and simmer about 3-4 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.

8. Serve over chicken and any other amazing carb that can absorb this liquid gold. Don't let any go to waste!!

Notes: the original recipe calls for 2 whole roasting chickens. Knowing this, I still made the same amount of gravy. I got a total yield of 3/4 cup of gravy after letting it thicken.