The Divine Dish

Sunday Roast Chicken Recipe

Posted on Dec 08, 2008 under Recipes | No Comment

When the days grow shorter and colder I begin to want to cook more comfort foods.  I usually eat out two or three times a week and often do not have the time to make a satisfying winter dinner.  On Sundays when I have a few afternoon hours free I head to the kitchen to make some standard classics.  Here is a recipe I made last night for a simple and delicious roast chicken, with pics.

Here is what you will need:

1 medium roasting pan

1   4 – 5 pound roasting chicken (I usually get an organic one at Whole Foods)

1 full head garlic

1  lemon

1 bunch thyme

2 carrots

1 parsnip

bag of small red, yellow and purple potatoes

bunch of orange beets

1 onion

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cut up onions, potatoes, beets, carrots and parsnips (peel these last three) and put them into the bottom of the roasting pan.  Chop up a few sprigs of the time, add olive oil and salt and pepper and mix together.

Unwrap chicken and take out giblet bag (don’t forget to do this!).  Wash chicken well inside and out and rub with 1/2 cut lemon.  Salt and pepper entire chicken, don’t forget the inside.

Stuff chicken with thyme (wrap thyme with butcher string into bundle), 1/2 lemon, and cut garlic (cut whole garlic head in half and stuff it into the inside of the chicken (it’s okay to keep the peel on)).

After stuffing with thyme, lemon and garlic, tie chicken legs together with butcher string.  Place chicken on vegetables in the roasting pan.  Heat three tablespoons butter in the microwave and when done pour over chicken.

Put chicken into oven and roast for 1 1/2 hours, making sure to baste every 1/2 hour.  After taking chicken out of oven let it rest for 15 minutes so the juices redistribute.  Carve and enjoy!

I served a simple chopped salad with the roasted chicken and vegetables, using the ingredients below (basically what I had in my fridge last night):