Pumpkin-Dijon Roast Chicken or Pork Shoulder
A cozy, golden roast chicken with crackly herb-and-garlic skin, set over a silky pumpkin purée, crowned with a melting Dijon-thyme butter, and served with roasted carrots and baby potatoes and a pan of garlicky greens. It's especially good with a whole chicken, and for a richer, slow-roasted Sunday feast, make it with pork shoulder instead.
Yield: Serves 4 with chicken (serves 6-8 with pork shoulder) · Active: 40 min · Total: 1 hr 45 min with chicken (about 5½ hours with pork shoulder) · Best in North America from fall into early winter, when pumpkins, kabocha, carrots, and hearty greens are at their peak · Best eaten: early evening, perfect for a Sunday supper
Complete Menu
Herb-Roasted Chicken (or Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder)
Silky Pumpkin Purée
Dijon-Thyme Butter
Roasted Carrots and Baby Potatoes
Garlicky Sautéed Greens
Your Game Plan (for the chicken)
Earlier in the day (or up to 3 days ahead): Roast the pumpkin and make the purée. Make the Dijon butter.
About 1 hr 45 min out: Pull the chicken from the fridge and pat it dry. Heat the oven to 425°F.
About 1 hr 20 min out: The chicken goes in at 425°F, with the carrots and potatoes alongside.
About 1 hr out: Turn the oven down to 375°F and keep roasting.
About 15 min out: Take the chicken out to rest. Rewarm the purée and sauté the greens.
Plate and top the chicken with Dijon butter.
Recipe 1 — Herb-Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
1 whole pasture-raised chicken (3½-4 lb)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp Baja Gold sea salt
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
Method
Prep. Pat the chicken completely dry inside and out; dry skin is the secret to crisp skin. For even crispier skin, salt it the day before and refrigerate it uncovered overnight.
Season. Stir together the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and garlic, and rub it all over the chicken, gently working some under the breast skin. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine if you like.
Roast hot. Set the chicken breast-side up in a roasting pan or large cast iron skillet and roast at 425°F for 20 minutes.
Finish lower. Turn the oven down to 375°F and keep roasting 45-60 minutes more, until the thickest part of the breast reads 165°F and the thigh reads at least 165°F (thighs are even more tender at 175°F). If the skin browns too fast, tent it loosely with foil.
Rest 15 minutes before carving, so the juices settle back into the meat.
Or: Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder
Richer and fall-apart tender, with the same accompaniments.
Ingredients
1 bone-in pasture-raised pork shoulder (4-5 lb)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Baja Gold sea salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup bone broth or water
Method
Season ahead. Pat the pork dry and score the fat cap in a crosshatch pattern. Rub it all over with the salt, ideally the night before, and refrigerate uncovered.
Rub. Pull it from the fridge an hour before cooking. Stir together the olive oil, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and garlic, and rub it all over the pork.
Slow-roast. Set the pork fat-side up in a roasting pan with the broth, cover tightly, and roast at 300°F for 4-5 hours, until it's fork-tender and pulls apart easily (around 195-205°F inside).
Crisp the top. Uncover, turn the oven up to 425°F, and roast 15-20 minutes more, until the fat is golden and crackly. Roast the carrots and potatoes during this stage.
Rest 20 minutes, then pull or slice the pork and spoon the pan juices over it.
For a crowd: Double the pumpkin purée and Dijon butter when making the pork shoulder.
Recipe 2 — Silky Pumpkin Purée
Ingredients
1½ cups roasted pumpkin or kabocha (from about half a small sugar pumpkin or kabocha squash)
1 tbsp grass-fed butter
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
2-4 tbsp chicken or bone broth, as needed
Method
Roast the pumpkin. Halve the pumpkin or kabocha, scoop out the seeds, rub the cut sides with a little olive oil, and roast cut-side down at 400°F for 40-50 minutes, until completely tender. Scoop out the flesh.
Blend. Blend the roasted pumpkin with the butter, salt, and a splash of broth until silky, adding broth a little at a time until it's smooth and spoonable.
Keep warm, or refrigerate and rewarm gently over low heat.
Shortcut: Use 1½ cups organic canned pumpkin (100% pumpkin, in a BPA-free can) and warm it with the butter, salt, and broth.
Recipe 3 — Dijon-Thyme Butter
Ingredients
2 tbsp grass-fed butter, softened
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Method
Mash everything together with a fork until smooth. Keep it at room temperature so it's soft enough to melt over the hot chicken, or roll it into a log in parchment and chill it for neat slices.
Recipe 4 — Roasted Carrots and Baby Potatoes
Ingredients
1 lb carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces (halve any thick ones lengthwise)
1 lb baby potatoes, halved
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or the chicken's pan drippings)
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt
¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
A few sprigs fresh thyme
Method
Toss the carrots and potatoes with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme.
Roast. With the chicken: spread them on a separate sheet pan (or around the chicken) and roast alongside it, about 45-55 minutes in total, tossing once, until golden and tender. With the pork: roast at 425°F for 30-35 minutes while the pork crisps and rests.
Recipe 5 — Garlicky Sautéed Greens
Ingredients
1 large bunch mixed greens (kale, chard, and/or spinach), tough stems removed, leaves torn
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Squeeze of fresh lemon
Method
Warm the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and optional red pepper flakes and cook 30 seconds, until fragrant but not browned.
Wilt the greens. Add the kale first, since it needs a few extra minutes, and cook 2-3 minutes. Add the chard and spinach and toss until just wilted, about 2 minutes more.
Finish with the salt and a squeeze of lemon.
Plating
Spoon a generous swoosh of warm pumpkin purée onto each plate. Set the carved chicken (or pulled pork) over it, and pile the roasted carrots and potatoes and the garlicky greens alongside. Top the hot meat with a spoonful of Dijon-thyme butter and let it melt into the purée.
Storage
Cooked chicken or pork: Refrigerated up to 4 days, or frozen up to 3 months
Pumpkin purée: Refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 3 months
Dijon-thyme butter: Refrigerated up to 2 weeks, or frozen up to 3 months
Roasted vegetables: Refrigerated up to 4 days. Reheat at 400°F for 5-8 minutes
Greens: Refrigerated up to 3 days
Leftover transformations: Shred leftover chicken or pork into a soup with bone broth, the pumpkin purée, and the greens; fold it into pastured eggs with the roasted vegetables for a hearty breakfast hash; or simmer the chicken carcass into a pot of golden broth.
Support for the Female Infradian Rhythm
This is a grounding, nourishing plate, especially restorative during the luteal and menstrual phases. Pasture-raised chicken and pork bring complete protein, B vitamins, zinc, and some heme iron. Pumpkin and carrots deliver beta-carotene, and the potatoes and pumpkin offer steady, satisfying carbohydrate that's especially welcome in the luteal phase. Kale and chard bring calcium, magnesium, and folate, plus glucosinolates that support estrogen metabolism through Phase 2 liver detoxification.
Nourishment Notes
Pasture-raised chicken — complete protein, B vitamins, selenium, and zinc. The skin and bones bring collagen and glycine.
Pasture-raised pork — thiamine (pork is one of the best food sources of B1), B6, B12, zinc, and selenium. Pigs raised outdoors in the sun also store more vitamin D in their fat.
Pumpkin and kabocha — beta-carotene (fat-soluble, so the butter helps you absorb it), potassium, vitamin C, and fiber.
Grass-fed butter — fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K2, plus CLA and butyrate.
Dijon mustard — glucosinolates and a bright, tangy kick.
Thyme, rosemary, and garlic — thymol, rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid, and allicin.
Carrots — beta-carotene, which becomes more absorbable when roasted with fat.
Baby potatoes — potassium, vitamin C, and B6. Cooled and reheated potatoes form resistant starch, which feeds your gut bacteria.
Kale, chard, and spinach — vitamin K, folate, magnesium, and calcium. The lemon's vitamin C helps your body absorb their plant iron.
Extra virgin olive oil — oleic acid and polyphenols.
Sourcing
Chicken — pasture-raised, from a local farm raising birds on pasture, or White Oak Pastures
Pork shoulder — pasture-raised, ideally from a heritage breed (like Berkshire or Red Wattle), from a local farm or White Oak Pastures
Pumpkin or kabocha — organic sugar pumpkin or kabocha squash, heavy for its size; or organic canned 100% pumpkin in a BPA-free can
Grass-fed butter — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows, or raw butter from a local dairy
Dijon mustard — organic, with no preservatives or sugar; Delouis Fils and Maison Orphée both make organic Dijon from just mustard seeds, vinegar, water, and salt
Bone broth — homemade from pasture-raised bones, or Bonafide Provisions (organic, sold frozen)
Carrots, baby potatoes, kale, chard, and spinach — organic, from a farmers' market
Fresh thyme and rosemary — organic
Garlic — organic hardneck garlic
Lemons — organic
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated within the past year, in dark glass
Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall