Roast Capon With Chili-cilantro Rub And Roasted Carrots

Total Time: 3 hrs 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 (8 lb) capons or 1 (8 lb) roasting chickens
• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder, like ancho
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons butter, unsalted, softened
• 2 lbs medium carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into thirds crosswise
• 1/2 cup water

Recipe

• 1 rinse capon and snip away any excess fat from cavity using kitchen shears.
• 2 pat capon dry and season with salt inside and out.
• 3 let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• 4 preheat oven to 375 degrees f.
• 5 while capon is standing, mash garlic to a paste using a mortar and pestle.
• 6 add cilantro, chile powder, cumin, and butter and mash to a paste again.
• 7 arrange capon, breast side up, with neck toward you, and gently work your fingers between skin and flesh of the breast, working your way down to thighs.
• 8 rub 1/3 of the butter mixture under skin of breast and thighs and rub another 1/3 into the cavity of the bird, then tie the legs together with kitchen string.
• 9 put capon in a buttered roasting pan.
• 10 scatter carrots around bird and season with salt and pepper.
• 11 pour water over the carrots.
• 12 roast in middle of the oven 45 minutes.
• 13 remove pan from the oven and brush top and sides of the bird with the remaining 1/3 of the butter mixture.
• 14 continue to roast basting capon and carrots with pan juices every 20 minutes (tent capon with foil if it gets too brown), until a thermometer inserted 2" into fleshy part of a thigh registers 170 degrees, about 2 hours more.
• 15 transfer carrots with some of the pan juices to a heated serving dish and keep warm, covered.
• 16 let capon stand 20 minutes before carving.