Cooking Class: Roasted Chicken With Pan Gravy and Vegetables at Vue 412

Cooking Class visits the kitchens of area restaurants, whose chefs share their popular recipes.

Creating a menu as delectable as the view is Mike Roman's goal at Vue 412, a new restaurant on Mt. Washington's Grandview Avenue.The owner of Roman Bistro in Forest Hills, he always had wanted to own a dining destination on Pittsburgh's iconic mountaintop.

When the Tin Angel closed after 50 years, he seized the opportunity, redecorating the three-story space and recruiting Mike Madigan Jr., a former New York City-area restaurateur, as executive chef.

A third-generation graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, Madigan has designed a menu he describes as “French-inspired with Pittsburgh grit.” Upscale but unpretentious, items are built around fresh, quality ingredients and are served in “real-people portions,” Madigan says.

“Fine dining should be fun dining,” he says. “Our large-plate salads serve two to four, and our small plates can be mixed and matched if you want to try a bunch of things or share with others at your table.”

Madigan favors wild-caught rather than farm-raised fish and orders scallops in the shell from his purveyor. The mollusks are jumbo — fewer than 10 to a pound — and are served pan-seared with wagami salad and mushroom ravioli, both in small-plate and entree offerings. “It's becoming our signature item,” Madigan says.

The duck confit with Mediterranean vegetables and smashed potatoes also is a guest favorite, he says. Vue 412's top sellers are the hand-cut filet mignon with garlic-smashed red-skin potatoes and sauteed vegetables, and the herbed New York strip steak with hand-cut fries. Both are slow-cooked and served medium rare.

Appetizers include roasted tomato flatbread with goat cheese and basil, seared ahi tuna with wagami salad and three seasonal soups, such as asparagus, butternut squash and cream of potato. Salads include tuna Nicoise with wild mushrooms, grilled New York strip steak and baby spinach aux lardons (pork-belly croutons). Each weeknight features a different pasta dish, such as seafood spaghetti with tomato-basil cream sauce on Thursdays.

Vue 14's dining room at street level seats 50. The downstairs lounge seats 30 and features more than a dozen draft beers, including several produced locally, select bottled brews and curated cocktails, such as the Pomegranate Moscow Mule made with vodka, pomegranate liqueur and ginger beer. The third-floor banquet room can accommodate parties of 50 and has an outside deck with tables for eight or 12. “It's ideal for wedding rehearsal dinners and other gatherings,” Madigan says.

Every seat in the restaurant gets a view of the Steel City skyline.

Deborah Weisberg is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.

Roasted Chicken With Pan Gravy and Vegetables

This dish reflects Madigan's affinity for Country French cuisine. He seasons the bird with a blend of herbs and uses pureed garlic and pureed mushrooms in the gravy. The purees are easily made by blending garlic or mushrooms with chicken stock.

Vegetables include tender, young fingerling potatoes, peeled baby carrots, cremini mushrooms and cippolini onions, which, because they are higher in residual sugar, are especially good for roasting or caramelizing.

For the mushroom puree:

8 medium-size cremini mushrooms

¹⁄₄ cup chicken stock

For the garlic puree:

1 head garlic

Olive oil

¹⁄₄ cup chicken stock

For the chicken and vegetables:

1 half chicken

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Rosemary, tarragon, parsley and thyme, to taste; or, use a poultry pack that often can be found in a grocery's produce aisle

6 fingerling potatoes

8 cremini mushrooms

6 baby carrots, peeled

2 cipollini onions

Red wine

¹⁄₄ cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

Fresh parsley and micro-greens, optional, for garnish

To make the pureed mushrooms: Puree the 8 mushrooms and ¹⁄₄ cup chicken stock in a food processor or with an immersion blender.

To make the pureed garlic: Heat an oven to 325 degrees. Coat the garlic with oil, and roast the garlic for one hour. Puree the garlic and ¹⁄₄ cup chicken stock in a food processor or immersion blender.

To make the chicken: If starting with a whole chicken, halve the bird. Bend back the wing joint. Rub the skin with olive oil, salt, pepper and the aromatic seasonings (rosemary, tarragon, parsley, and thyme). Turn over the chicken half and season the other side in the same manner.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Heat olive oil in an ovenproof skillet; the oil should be about ¹⁄₄-inch deep. Be careful not to let the oil smoke. (However, “Make sure the oil is very hot, or the skin will stick,” Madigan says.) Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down, and pan-fry for about 4 minutes, until browned. (Notes Madigan: “Place the chicken in the skillet away from you, so you don't get splashed” by the oil.)

Slice the fingerling potatoes in half. Place the potatoes flesh-side down in the skillet with the chicken and herbs. Add the mushrooms, carrots and onions.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then flip the chicken and bake for about 20 minutes longer.

Remove the pan from the oven and add a splash of wine to aid in removing the bird to a serving platter. Remove the vegetables to the serving platter.

Drain 75 percent of the fat from the skillet. Add to the pan a splash of wine along with ¹⁄₄ cup chicken stock, 1 tablespoon of the pureed mushrooms, 1 tablespoon of the pureed garlic and a pinch of the aromatic seasonings. Stir over low heat for about 5 minutes, until the gravy is reduced to the point where it can coat a spoon. Remove from the heat and add 2 tablespoons butter. (Turn off the heat before adding the butter to prevent the butter from boiling.)

Spoon the gravy onto the serving plate, placing the chicken on the gravy. Surround with the roasted vegetables and garnish with fresh parsley and micro-greens, if desired.

Makes 2 servings.