Basically, how this meal came about, was that our grocery store had whole chickens on sale and I’ve been wanting to try to roast a chicken for quite some time, but I’ve been nervous about it! I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I was worried it would be so, so dry and disgusting. (Obviously the opposite of delicious!)
So I bit the bullet and made it tonight. (It had been in the fridge defrosting since Tuesday!)
I looked around the What’s Cookin’ board on The Nest and came across this blog, Mangia! It is so great! Her recipe for roast chicken sounded exactly like what I wanted. Her recipe is as follows with my alterations in red.
Also, she had a great tip that worked perfectly for me. She said that a good rule of thumb is to cook your chicken 15 minutes per pound and that tack on an additional 20 at the end. My chicken came out so juicy and perfectly cooked. I’m very neurotic about chicken not being thoroughly cooked, so now I have a good rule. (Sometimes I don’t even trust the meat thermometer!)
The World’s Classiest Chicken
Ingredients:
- 6-8lb roasting chicken Mine was only 4 lbs.
- 2 large lemons or 3 small lemons (quartered)
- 2 bulbs of garlic (cut in half, horizontally, paper and all)
- 6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme (or rosemary or both if you prefer!) I use about a tsp. of dried thyme.
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- kitchen string
For Gravy:
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3/4 c. white wine
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp. flour
- 1/4 c. chicken stock
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Wash the bird in cold water, making sure to remove the package inside containing the neck and gizzards.
Pat dry with a paper towel.
Throw in some salt and pepper inside the cavity and add the garlic, 1/2 the amount of quartered lemons, and fresh herbs.
Tie the legs together with string and fold the wing under to ensure even cooking.
Rub a generous amount of olive over the bird. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add remaining quartered lemons to the pan.
A good rule of thumb is to roast the bird for 15 minutes per pound and then add 20 minutes to the end. So for an 8lb-er, you would roast for 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Once finished, remove the bird from the pan and set aside to rest with a blanket of tin foil over it.
Transfer the roasting pan, with all of its glorious drippings, to your stove top to make the gravy.
Over medium heat, begin to simmer the drippings, remove all lemons or any other big pieces.
I first added the flour and let that cook for a minute before I added everything else. Add wine and butter and be sure to scrape the bottom to incorporate in the gravy. Allow for the sauce to thicken and simmer until reduced to a nice glaze. If the gravy is still too thick, add a tiny bit of flour but make sure to use a whisk. I also added salt and pepper.
We also had potatoes and asparagus. I cut up 4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes. (It’s what I had in the pantry.) Tossed them in about a tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper. I roasted them for a total of about 40 minutes. We like them crispy!
With that, we had roasted asparagus. I tossed that with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, as well. That roasted for only about 10 minutes. I know it looks a little limp in the picture, but it was crisp and perfect. It was just so skinny!
