Roast Chicken and Creamy Gnocchi!

I love making a roast chicken with a side of gnocchi! It is so simple and makes the house smell amazing!

Here are the ingredients!

· 1 (4 lb.) whole chicken

· 1 cup of unsalted chicken stock

· 1 lemon- juice and zest

· 3 tablespoons of peppered rosemary from Cape Fear Spice Merchants

· 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

· 8 ounces of Kite Hill sour crème- dairy free

· 8 tablespoons of vegan salted butter

· 1/3 of a white onion- chopped roughly

· 1 cup of salt- for brine

· 5 cups of water- for brine

The chicken wasn’t frozen this time, so I immediately got to brining! I took it out of the wrap, rinsed it off, and placed it in a large bowl that I filled with the 5 cups of water and added in the salt. I covered it with some foil and let it sit in the fridge to brine for 1 hour.

Once it was done brining, I patted it dry and set it on my large cutting board. I zested the lemon and then juiced it and put the slices inside the chicken. I rubbed all the zest and lemon juice over the chicken. I put the chopped onion slices, the lemon that was juiced and zested, and the 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary inside the chicken, along with the juice.

I took the sour crème and put it in the skin and on top of the chicken. I sprinkled the lemon zest all over the chicken and also placed the vegan butter under the skin and on top of he chicken. I rubbed the peppered rosemary all over the chicken.

Once I placed the chicken in the roasting pan, I poured the chicken stock around it and inside of the chicken.

I roasted it uncovered at 350 degrees for 2 hours, broiled it at 500 degrees for 3 minutes to give it more color and to make the skin crispy, then removed it from the oven and let is stand for about 20 minutes uncovered before carving so the juices could redistribute and so I could make the side.

For the side I made gnocchi!

Here are the ingredients!

· 1 package of gnocchi

· 1 tablespoon of salt- for the gnocchi water

· 1 tablespoon of olive oil- for the gnocchi water

· 2 tablespoons of the original nutpods

· 1 teaspoon of salt- for the sauce

· 1 teaspoon of pepper- for the sauce

In a large skillet, I set the heat to medium and added in the nutpods, salt and pepper. I whisked this together to make the sauce. In a small pot, I added the water, salt, and olive oil, covered it, and set the heat to high. Once it reached a boil, I added in the gnocchi and cooked it for 3 minutes. Once it floated to the top, I drained it and tossed it with the nutpods sauce and served it with the chicken.