A whole roasted chicken always makes me think of Sunday family dinners. Perhaps I’ve been affected by Normal Rockwell’s idea of family and grand meals. Since I don’t have a large family to cook for every week, I never really gave much thought to making a whole bird for myself, until this week. I start classes again on Tuesday and things are bound to get pretty busy. I had time this morning, so I figured I should roast up the chicken and eat it later this week for lunch and/or dinner.
This recipe is super easy and really good, although, I really really need to practice carving. I didn’t think it was possible to kill a chicken twice until I attempted to slice this one.
Roasted Chicken
Adapted from Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken
- 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Few springs of rosemary
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
- 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
- 5-6 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
- 4-6 russet potatoes, cut into 2-inch cubes
- Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 °F.
Remove the chicken giblets, clean out the inside of the chicken (make sure to check both side because sometimes innards end up inside the neck-end as well) and rinse well with cold water.
Stuff the cavity with the rosemary, lemon halves, garlic, salt and pepper. Then brush the outside of the chicken with butter and salt and pepper it. Ina recommends tying the legs together, but I still don’t own any kitchen twine, so I skipped this step.
Next, put the chopped veggies into a roasting pan and toss with salt, pepper, olive oil and some the rosemary (I removed it from the stems in the pan). Then mix around and spread evenly over the pan before putting the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours (approx 20 minutes per pound), or until the juices run clear. Cover with aluminum foil and let it stand for at least 20 minutes. Then have someone else carve it.
