From the Recipe File of J.T. Fields

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: 2020/03 - March

Many of you know J.T. Fields. 

The former co-owner of Mountain Fresh Grocery is a local celebrity of sorts. To many of his customers he was a beacon – a broad-smiling, enthusiastic dude who seemed to know more than anyone should about the mysteries and glories of food and wine.  

Perennially energetic (those of us in the store referred to him as “Our Ninja”), Fields was forever doling out passionate descriptions of his favorite wine selections along with cooking tips and recipes.  

Indeed, Fields has an intuition for combinations of flavor and texture and foods of everyday elegance – expertise that comes from a past stint as a sauté cook in a high-end restaurant. 

For now, food is no longer a profession, but simply a pleasure and cooking a way of sharing his pleasure with others.  As he does in this simple supper that combines two favorites from his childhood; an effortless recipe for roast chicken – a dish that is alternately referred to as “the little black dress of cooking” and “the litmus test for any good chef” – served with wilted greens.

From JT Fields: “There are few things more satisfying than a well roasted chicken.  Fancier, yes.  More complicated, certainly.  But the aromas of a golden bird coming out of the oven ranks up there with sautéed onion or bacon.  A nostalgic item for me is a wilted leaf salad.  Growing up, I must have eaten thousands of these and for me the star of a wilted lettuce salad is the combination of fat (usually bacon grease) and the acid of lemon or vinegar. In the following recipe, I take advantage of all the savory drippings in the roasting pan and put them to good use on the salad with a little help from some bacon”

Roast Chicken with Wilted Greens 

Ingredients

1 whole 5-pound Chicken, trimmed of excess fat

Salt and freshly ground pepper

5 slices Bacon

¼ Yellow Onion

1 Lemon

1 TB Red Wine Vinegar

Mixed Greens

Step 1: Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water both inside and out.  Pat it dry with cloth or paper towels. Sprinkle it generously with salt and pepper, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.  Place ¼ of the lemon and the onion in the bird’s cavity.   

Step 2: Place the chicken breast side up in a roasting pan and cook basting once or twice for 30 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350 degrees – or if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoking sooner.  Roast for another 20 minutes and then lay the bacon carefully in the bottom of the pan. Continue roasting and basting 25 minutes more or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees.  Total cooking time should be about 75 minutes.

Step 3: Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate to rest for 10 minutes.  As the chicken rests, remove the bacon from the pan and chop. Pour the drippings from the pan into a clean skillet and place over medium heat. Add any juice that has collected under the chicken along with the chopped bacon, Dijon mustard, vinegar or 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Whisk until everything is incorporated and a creamy dressing is formed.  

Step 4: Cut chicken into pieces, cutting the breast meat into slices.  Divide the chicken among plates, place the greens alongside the chicken and spoon the warm dressing over the greens.

by Marlene Osteen