Roasted Whole Chicken

Recipe Courtesy of Elizabeth Dougherty

Get friendly with your chicken and don't put it in bondage!

This is the first of three recipes for a family of four with one chicken.  For this recipe, you're going to roast it, but you're going to have to get to know your chicken a little bit.  It's worth it, believe me. Roast chicken can be difficult to make well.  It can easily end up overcooked or worse, undercooked. Follow these directions and use a thermometer.

Ingredients provided by:
Messineo's Gourmet Market

Chicken ready for oven. You can tie it up for presentation, but it cooks faster without that.

Ingredients:

1 large potato (medium dice)
1 large onion (medium dice)
2 large carrots (peeled, medium dice)
2 stalks celery (medium slices)
A drizzle of olive oil
sea salt
peppercorn blend (ground)
1 large roasting chicken
1 stick of softened butter
1 head of garlic
1 lemon
1 tsp dried tarragon

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  In a roasting pan, add vegetables to the bottom. Season with sea salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Stir to combine.

Wash chicken and dry it off with a paper towel. Using clean hands, rub the chicken all over with the softened butter. Put some butter underneath the skin of the breast and a little inside the cavity. Salt and pepper it all over and add the tarragon, rubbing it evenly all over the chicken. Cut garlic head and lemon in half and put inside the cavity. If you run out of room, leave the other half of lemon and garlic in the pan for flavor.

You can tie the chicken for presentation, if you like. I find it cooks faster without doing that, especially in the thigh area.

Roast for 30-35 minutes until it starts to get pretty browned, then lower the heat to 350 degrees F. If the breast and veggies start to get too much color, pour about 1/4 cup of water over them. Roast at 350 for another hour or so, checking the temp of the chicken with a thermometer. When it reaches 170 degrees, take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes. Carve it and serve up about 4-6 oz of chicken per person with the vegetables. Save the rest for the pot pie recipe coming up tonight!