Herbed Faux-tisserie Chicken and Potatoes

This issue of Bon Appetit is really good. This one by Carla Lalli Music, food and features editor, states her ‘quest is to recreate the texture of rotisserie chicken’. It is slow roasted in the oven for 3 hours. I always make the recipe before I post it to see if it works. We ate this last night, the skin was crunchy and very tasty, the meat was juicy and tender. Not a lot of preparation, easy to put together and slow roasting means you can wander off and do something else.


Ingredients

1 3 1/2 - 4 lb chicken
1 lemon quartered
1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and halved
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh marjoram, plus 4 sprigs
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme plus 4 sprigs
Kosher salt
Black pepper (freshly ground)
6 tablespoons olive oil divided


Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit
Coarsely grind fennel seeds and red pepper flakes with a mortar and pestle. Combine the round fennel seeds and red pepper flakes with the chopped marjoram, chopped thyme leaves, 1 tablespoon Kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and  3 tablespoons olive oil in a small bowl. Rub chicken inside and out with the spice mixture. Stuff the chicken with the quartered lemon, the whole garlic halved, 2 sprigs of marjoram and 2 sprigs of thyme. Tie the legs together with string.
Toss  2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, halved in 3 tablespoon olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Push the potatoes to the edges of the baking sheet and scatter remaining marjoram and thyme sprigs in the center. Place the chicken on the herbs. Roast, turning potatoes and basting chicken every hour until skin is browned, the meat is extremely tender and the potatoes are golden brown. Approximately 3 hours. I actually basted every 30 minutes.
Let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.