Recipe: How to Roast a Pastured Chicken

While at Windy Ridge Natural Farms, we picked up a few things - a dozen eggs, a roaster, and a whole rooster for stewing. On top of that bounty, Tim was nice enough to send us home with some pink potatoes, his own Provencal herb mix, a stack of information about his farm and like-minded organizations, and a simple recipe card.

We really appreciate when pastured meat farmers provide recipes. While we don't always use the actual recipes, they generally highlight the best method for cooking their product. We often hear people say they don't like grass-fed beef or free-range chicken because it's too tough, rubbery or sinewy. The thing is: some people don’t realize they have to treat pastured meat differently than conventional meat. It can be tough or rubbery, but when prepared properly it's really, really good! It's all about sharing information, and that's one of the main reasons we write this blog. 

So when we glanced over this recipe card, we were excited to see that Tim suggests a different technique for cooking his birds - about 2 hours in a cooler oven. We've always roasted our birds at 350 for an hour and often the dark meat is, while much deeper in flavor, kinda... rubbery! Well, duh!! That’s because these birds are actually moving their legs! And with the more active muscles - shoulders, necks, shanks, & thighs - the motto is always: slow and low. Why we never connected the dots is beyond us!

Well, we couldn't wait to try this new method! And we decided we might as well do a whole Windy Ridge dinner - the chickens, herb mix, and pink potatoes! (There is something so satisfying about eating a meal that all comes from one farm.) Not surprisingly the low and slow method worked like a charm! Farmer knows best!

Windy Ridge’s Roast Chicken

+ 1 roaster - about 4.5 lbs

+ 2 tbsp Herbs De Provence (a mix of thyme, savory, lavender, fennel and whatever else you'd like)

+ 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

+ 1 tbsp coarse grain salt

For Gravy:

+ 1/2 cup dry white wine - we love Dr. Franks Dry Riesling

+ 2 tbsp butter 

+ 1 tbsp flour

1. Preheat oven to 300. Place a skillet big enough to hold the bird in the oven while it's heating.

2. Rinse and dry the chicken. Rub olive oil all over bird, then the herbs and salt.

3. When the oven has heated remove the skillet, put the bird in breast side up and place back in oven. Cook for 1 ¾ hrs.

4. Take the chicken out of the skillet and let stand for 10 minutes. In the meantime, place the skillet with drippings on the stove over medium heat. Whisk in ½ cup white wine and let reduce by half. Then whisk in 2 tbsp of butter and one tbsp of flour. Cook until thickened and serve over carved chicken.

Field Trip: Windy Ridge Natural Farms

While farmers like Joel Salatin may be the poster children for sustainable farming in America, one of the deep pleasures of writing this blog has been meeting other dedicated - and often unsung - farmers in the NYC food-shed. Recently, while in the Southern Tier of New York State, we were lucky enough to stumble upon one these farmers.

Windy Ridge Natural Farms in Alfred, NY is, not surprisingly, situated on a windy ridge. On this quiet hilltop sit about 400 of the happiest chickens we have ever seen! And caring for them is the tireless and tenacious Tim Koegel. Tim’s story is not all that different from others we have heard. He grew up on a small farm, saying goodbye to an agrarian lifestyle at age 18 - or so he thought. Skip a few years ahead to Tim with a good job, a lovely family... and a daughter with a terrible and inexplicable rash. When no modern or holistic medicine could solve the problem, Tim became convinced that it was food related. After carefully monitoring what his daughter was eating, he discovered that she suffered from an allergy to sulfites - food preservatives found as commonly in "organic" food as in conventional products.

That's when Tim realized the food system was seriously broken, and he decided that the only way to promote change was to participate in it. Over the last ten years Tim has become a leading pioneer in organic and sustainable poultry and egg farming. Working closely with Animal Welfare Approved and National Organic Farmers Association of New York, Tim has experimented and tinkered his way to a truly exceptional poultry production system. In fact, Tim describes his farm as being for experimental as much as productive. He works closely with AWA, consulting with people who want get into a similar kind of poultry farming. Recently, with a grant from AWA, he designed and built a state of the art mobile pasture layer house (a chicken trailer).

The Windy Ridge layers - Rhode Island Reds, Golden Laced Wyandottes, and Red-sex Links - are offered uninterrupted access (weather permitting) to pasture. Besides the ample food they find while foraging, they are fed organic grains grown in Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Their eggs can be found at Dickson’s in NYC and he raises broilers during the summer, selling them from his farm as wholes or by the half. He also raises roosters for meat (Windy Ridge Coq-au Vin coming soon!) and hopes to be able to house and sell more in the near future.

On top of being blown away by Tim's innovations and contributions to sustainable organic poultry farming, it was inspiring to listen to his ideas on good 'ole food - which is really what this is all about. To Tim, food, health and wellness are all part of the same thing. The food he produces isn't just less-bad for you, it actually makes you healthier. And that is the real goal- to make food that is delicious, healthy, and better for local economies.

We cant wait to come back this summer and see the Windy Ridge broilers. Thank you Tim for being such a welcoming inspiration!