Roast Chicken with Salsa Madre, Swiss Chard and Pumpkin

Enjoy!

CHICKEN

• 1 whole chicken
• 1/2 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 lemon

SALSA MADRE

• 4 chile pasillas
• 4 chile anchos
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tomatoes chopped in quarters
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 4 cups chicken stock

VEGETABLES

• 1 piece celery root
• 1/2 pumpkin
• 1 red onion
• 4 stems swiss chard

Chicken

• Put 1/2 an onion (cut into 6 pieces), 3 whole cloves of garlic, 1 lemon (cut in half) inside a whole chicken.
• Truss the chicken (tuck the wings behind the bird’s back; grasp the bird’s wings and tuck them behind the bird’s back) and put in an oven at 400° Fahrenheit/ 200°C for 45 minutes uncovered, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 180° Fahrenheit/ 80° C.
• Let it rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Salsa Madre

• Chop onion and garlic and place in a large pan with 1 tbsp of oil over low heat.
• Sautee for 10 min until soft, then add chiles and cook for 3 min.
• Then add tomatoes, oregano, cumin, and sesame seeds and cook for 5 more minutes.
• Add raisins and chicken stock and cook for 25 minutes.
• Blend very well and season with salt and serve.
• Sauce keeps a week.

Vegetables

• Cut the celery root and pumpkin into 1/2 inch (1 ⅓ cm) squares. Cut the onion into large pieces.
• In a medium sized pan, add the celery root and onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Then add the pumpkin and place in the same oven as the chicken (at 400 degrees Fahrenheit/ 200°C ) for 15 minutes until vegetables are tender.
• Meanwhile, roughly chop the Swiss chard stems.
• Take the pan out of the oven and add the Swiss chard and with the residual heat from the pan, the Swiss chard will cook. After 10 minutes remove into a serving bowl.

Plating

• Put the salsa en madre on the bottom of the plate then add chicken on top.
• This way you maintain the beautiful crisp skin of the chicken, as well as you control your sauce to chicken ratio!