I recently bought a rotisserie for my gas grill and I’ve been chomping at the bit to use it. I had a whole chicken in the refrigerator and was hoping for a semi-warm day this weekend so I could get outside and fire up the grill but to no avail. This morning the temperature only reached 28 degrees so I gave up and decided to roast the chicken. Actually, roasted chicken is a great weeknight meal when the weather is cold. I steamed some asparagus and we had a fantastic Monday night supper.
If you eat chicken as much as we do, you’ll probably agree with me that sometimes the thought of having it one more time bores me to tears. I find that this recipe for roasted chicken adds enough flavor to make this feel like a special meal. The combination of thyme and rosemary compliments the chicken in a delightful way.
This method works with turkey as well and this is my go to Thanksgiving turkey preparation. Keep this recipe handy for your holiday dinner next year.
Stuffing the cavity with lemon, onion, rosemary, thyme, and garlic infuses the flesh of the chicken with an abundance of flavor. Dry the chicken very well with paper towel before roasting to ensure brown and crispy skin.
Herb butter ensures a flavorful and juicy chicken. Carefully loosen the breast skin with your fingers and spread butter mixture under the skin and over the breast meat. Make sure to not tear the skin.
Before roasting, it’s important to truss the chicken with kitchen twine. Start with a 2 1/2 to 3 feet length of twine. Loop the twine around the neck end of the bird and over the wings.
Bring the twine on the inside of the legs and loop around the end of each leg.
Pull the twine tight and tie the legs together.
This dish makes a great weeknight dinner for the family, but can impress your friends for a dinner party too. The secret to making this chicken a success is cooking to the appropriate internal temperature. In my opinion, there is nothing worse than overcooked chicken. If you don’t have an instant read meat thermometer, you should invest in one. I would recommend the type that has a probe that inserts into the meat and a unit that sits on the counter next to the oven. You can set an alert and the unit will beep when the chicken is done. A thermometer completely removes any guesswork when you’re cooking poultry or meat.
I think you’ll enjoy this recipe. Make this dish a regular part of your repertoire.
Ingredients
1 5 to 6 lb chicken
1 lemon, cut in half
1/2 yellow onion, cut in half
1 sprig of rosemary
4 sprigs of thyme
5 cloves garlic
3 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 medium new potatoes, cut in half
8 carrots, peeled
12 cipollini onions (can substitute shallots cut in half)
Salt and Pepper
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Generously salt and pepper cavity of chicken. Place lemon halves, yellow onion, garlic cloves, thyme, and rosemary in the cavity.
3. Mix 2 tablespoons of butter, minced rosemary, minced thyme, minced garlic, and 1/2 tsp salt.
4. Carefully push fingers under the breast skin to make room for butter. With fingers, press butter mixture under skin on each side of breast. Spread the remaining 1 tbsp of butter on the outside skin of the chicken.
5. Place chicken on rack in roasting pan. Place pan in oven and roast for 40 minutes.
6. Remove pan from oven and add potatoes, carrots, cippolini onions. Season vegetables with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Place pan back in the oven and continue roasting until internal temperature of chicken thigh reaches 165 degrees.
8. Place chicken on cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes. Cut chicken into quarters and place on platter with vegetables.
https://southernboydishes.com/2013/02/19/roast-chicken-with-vegetables/
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What a beautiful picture!
Beautiful dish! It has such a rustic look to it!!
wow this looks delicious!