Roast Chicken

Roast chicken delicious enough to invite your mother-in-law over for dinner!



For some reason a freshly roasted whole chicken seems so fancy. I've always been way too chicken to try cooking one myself :) I just figured there was a reason they sell so many rotisserie chickens at the grocery store- it must be very hard to make at home. It's not!!!

This chicken is so fantastically aromatic that when my husband walked in the door the first thing he said was "oooh what's the occasion? Are we having something special for dinner?" Naturally, I ceased my opportunity and said "Yup! Just cause I love you." Shhhh... he doesn't have to know that it was less work than most meals! Ok, I'll stop ranting about it and let you try it already:

Ingredients
2 Tbl extra-virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic crushed
1 large roasting chicken soaked in brine
1 lemon
1 bunch fresh rosemary
sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 450. Rub the olive oil and 3 of the crushed garlic cloves over the chicken. Cut the lemon in half and place in the cavity of the chicken (if the chicken isn't that large, I just use 1/2 of the lemon.) Along with the lemon, place the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and a sprig of rosemary inside. You can buy rosemary starts in the little pots at Target and plant them in direct sun. They're fairly easy to grow and last for years. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken and stick one of the rosemary stalks under the skin. Place the chicken on a rack in a black iron skillet or heavy roasting pan.

Roast for 30 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 350 and bake for an additional hour, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the breast portion registers 150-154. I used a 5 1/2 lb chicken and it was ready in just under an hour. I saved my juices at the bottom of the pan and made really yummy gravy. Or you could freeze it and stash it away for some broth for another meal.

Last, but not least take a picture of your fancy dish and email it to me!



What's brining??? Only the secret to melt-in-your-mouth poultry! Here's how to brine a chicken.

I'm sorry for not believing you, Aunt Dawne, when you promised me that this was the easiest and tastiest chicken recipe you've had! I knew it was a hit when Sienna looked right at me and said "Mommy, this is licious!" Even a 2 year old knows delicious chicken when she tastes one. But the biggest compliment of all was from Kevin who didn't even use bbq sauce, which I have NEVER seen him forgo with any chicken.