Roast Chicken

Knowing how to roast a chicken is a skill every home cook should have in their back pocket…or in this case, their apron pocket.  It is so simple you can cook it on a regular ol’ Wednesday for your family to enjoy but fancy enough that if a head of state, a certain celebrity that goes by the name of Martha, Prince Harry or someone else equally fancy knocked on your door, you could wow them with this dish.  Who knows?  They may involve you in a major policy decision that changes the course of human history, invite you to become the new face of food for her empire or drop to one knee and ask you to become the next princess.  What?  It could happen.  But if you don’t know how to cook a roast chicken, then none of this is gonna happen.  None of it.  I’m just saying.

Ingredient List
1 large roasting chicken (the one I used was a little over 6 pounds)
1 lemon cut into slices
a whole lotta garlic (1/2 a head or so)
3-4 sprigs of fresh oregano
sea salt
1/2 stick of softened butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Put the lemon slices, garlic and oregano in the chicken.

Rub the chicken skin with the stick of softened butter.  It will turn this wrinkly, pale looking chicken into golden brown loveliness.  Now that I think about it, my haven’t-seen-a-hint-of-sun-since-last-August legs could definitely use a little of this treatment.

I keep the butter in the wrapper to protect my hands from getting covered in the goo.

Sprinkle the bird with a generous amount of sea salt.

Let that chicken roast for about 1 and 1/2 hours, rotating the pan periodically to ensure even cooking.  The chicken is done when a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads at least 170 degrees.

Once that golden baby is finished, pull it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 – 15 minutes before carving.  It has worked hard getting all brown and delicious so the least you can do is give it a couple of minutes before you go hacking it into pieces.  That’s not it.  Actually, the rest allows the juices to stay in the bird instead of running all over the plate.  It will be worth the wait.  Trust me.

Behold this work of art!

Now stop beholding and enjoy!

We served the roast chicken with roasted potatoes and garlic.  All the roasting was in honor of National Roasting Day.  No, not really.  I don’t think there is such a thing but we sure acted like there was.  Since I learned this recipe for the One Grocery Trip…A Week’s Worth of Meals posts, I have made it no less than four times.  A definite family favorite!  See the recipe for the potato amazing-ness here.

And here is all that was left of our meal.  No, not really.  We did not ingest 6 pounds of chicken…at least not this time.  We still had chicken left for sandwiches, wraps and salads.  Yeah!

Roast a chicken today and you could be famous tomorrow.  Famous!