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Classic Roast Chicken with Herb Sauce & A Salad of Bitter Greens Paired with Pinot Grigio
We like to serve this basic roast chicken with a green salad dressed simply with a little of the rendered fat whisked into vinegar and mustard.
Serves four. From the pages of Fine Cooking

3- to 5-lb. roasting chicken
2 to 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Sprigs of fresh herbs (parsley, chervil, tarragon)
For the sauce
1/4 cup cognac or brandy
About 3-1/2 cups homemade or low-salt canned chicken stock
2 heaping Tbs. chopped mixed fresh herbs (parsley, chervil, chives, tarragon)
2 Tbs. heavy cream (optional)

For the salad
1 Tbs. minced shallot
1 Tbs. white-wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon-style mustard
3 Tbs. rendered fat from the roast chicken (warm from the pan)
2 cups washed and dried mixed greens

Heat the oven to 450°F. Remove the giblets from the chicken's cavity (save for a stock if you like -- but don't include the liver, which would make the stock bitter). Pull any loose fat from around the opening. Rinse the bird inside and out and pat dry. Rub the chicken all over with the softened butter, gently pushing the butter under the breast skin (see Three steps to great roast chicken). Sprinkle the outside and the cavity with the salt and pepper and stuff the herb sprigs inside.
Put the chicken, breast side up, on a V-shaped rack (or a flat rack) and set the rack in a roasting pan just larger than the rack. Roast for 15 to 20 min., reduce the heat to 375°F, and continue roasting for an additional 45 min. for a total of about 1 hour for a 3-lb. chicken. For larger birds, add another 10 min. for each additional pound. The chicken is done when the leg wiggles freely in its joint and when the juices run clear from the thigh when you prick it and from the cavity when you tilt the bird. A thermometer inserted into the lower meaty part of the thigh should register 170°F. Set the chicken on a warm platter, propping up the hindquarters with an inverted saucer, and tent with foil to keep it warm while you make the sauce. Remove the rack from the pan.

Make the sauce from the pan drippings (see A double reduction intensifies the sauce). Be sure to reserve some of the fat for the vinaigrette.

To make the salad dressing, whisk together the shallot, vinegar, and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk in 3 Tbs. of the warm chicken fat, and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with the greens and serve immediately with the carved chicken, drizzled with some sauce.