Spring Chickens with Green Marinade
From Tom's Big Dinners (Morrow, 2003)
Makes 4 servings

Celebrate Spring with this recipe from the “Spring Chickens” chapter of Big Dinners. The chickens marinate overnight in a thick, green, aromatic herb pesto before being pan-browned and then roasted. Don't forget to serve the deliciously herb-y pan juices with the chicken.

Tom also likes to use this marinade on a butterflied leg of lamb or lamb chops. Marinate the lamb overnight, then fire up the charcoal grill the next day. (Shake off excess marinade before you grill.)

You can substitute some of your favorite herbs for the ones specified here, but definitely include a few assertive herbs like rosemary and marjoram. If you have a kitchen herb garden, all the better!

(Note: If you are feeding 4 people or less, cut the recipe in half and use one chicken.)

• 2 chickens, (about 3½ pounds each) cut into 8 pieces each (2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 wings from each chicken)

For the Green Marinade:

• 1 cup chopped green onions
• ½ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• ½ cup sliced fresh chives
• ¼ cup chopped fresh tarragon
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

About ¼ cup olive oil, as needed for browning the chicken
1 lemon, cut in half

Trim excess fat from the chicken pieces. Rinse them under cold running water, pat dry with paper towels, and place them in a non-reactive pan.

Combine the green onions, herbs, garlic, lemon zest, and salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth, gradually adding the oil last to emulsify. The marinade will be very thick, like a pesto. Pour the marinade over the chicken pieces and turn to coat the pieces on both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 450 ° F. Heat 2 large sauté pans over medium-high heat with about 2 tablespoons of oil in each pan. (If you don't have 2 large sauté pans you can brown the chicken in batches.) Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving any excess marinade. Put the chicken pieces in the pans skin side down and sauté until the skin is nicely browned. Turn and brown the other side, adjusting the heat between medium and medium-high as necessary so you don't burn the chicken. As the chicken pieces are browned on both sides, about 8 to 10 minutes total for each piece, transfer them to a roasting pan. Squeeze the two halves of the lemon over the chicken and throw the lemon halves into the pan. Scrape any extra marinade into the roasting pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and roast until the chicken is cooked, juices run clear, and the thigh meat reads 175 ° F on an instant reading thermometer, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven.

Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and arrange on a platter. (If you like, you can cut the chicken breasts in half first so your guests can choose both white and dark meat.) Whisk the pan juices to break up any clumps of the marinade and drizzle a little over the chicken. Pour the rest of the pan juices into a gravy boat, discarding the lemon halves, and pass with the chicken.