Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette #89

This recipe is comes from a little Italian girl you might know that goes by the name of Giada De Laurentiis.  If there is one thing I could learn to cook and die happy (besides biscuits and gravy) it would be good roasted chicken in the oven.  I love to get roasted chicken in restaurants, especially when it has a certain sauce made over it.  A lot of time these recipes call for roasting pans or pans you can set on the eye afterwards to make a glaze using the drippings left over from cooking.  For my birthday, Michael got me my first Le Creuset dutch oven.  I got a larger one just so I could try one of these recipes.  Well, I'm finally getting around to it!

The case:

Ingredients
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (4-pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces (giblets, neck and backbone reserved for another use)
1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions
Whisk the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper in small bowl to blend. Combine the vinaigrette and chicken pieces in a large resealable plastic bag; seal the bag and toss to coat. Refrigerate, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove chicken from the bag and arrange the chicken pieces on a large greased baking dish. Roast until the chicken is just cooked through, about 1 hour. If your chicken browns too quickly, cover it with foil for the remaining cooking time. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Place the baking dish on a burner over medium-low heat. Whisk the chicken broth into the pan drippings, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the baking sheet with a wooden spoon and mixing them into the broth and pan drippings. Drizzle the pan drippings over the chicken. Sprinkle the lemon zest and parsley over the chicken, and serve.

The ruling:
The chicken was cooked perfectly.  It was probably the most moist chicken I've made so far on this journey.  I'm sure the drippings aided the moisture.  I loved the outside of the chicken.  The lemon zest and parsley really added a pop of flavor.  Michael's first comment was, "Wow, that looks fancy!"  This would be a perfect company dinner.  I wish I knew a better way to get the flavor all the way through the chicken, but this was still delicious!