 I am always in search of new recipes. I have enormous files full of recipes I have clipped or photo-copied, the majority of which I have yet to try. I will go to the local library and haul home stacks of cookbooks that I take along with me to bed at night and read cover to cover. I will purchase major and not-too-major newspapers from around the country on the days they devote several of their pages to food. I am always looking for ways to perfect or tweak a bit, dishes that are already in my kitchen's repertoire. Now, there are numerous ways to approach the roasting of a chicken, from a wide range of oven temperatures, to what is rubbed onto or stuffed into the carcass, and deciding what vegetables and herbs might be tossed along-side the chicken, to cook in the fats and juices that are released. With so many choices, I am constantly disappointed in myself for the lack of desire and loss of creativity in changing anything when preparing my bird. I guess I'm satisfied enough, knowing my house will have a strong smell of garlic while the chicken is in the oven, and there will be the usual fighting between family members over who gets the legs… and, that it will be delicious. I've been roasting my chicken this way for over 20 years, and I still like it! • MY ROAST CHICKEN • PREHEAT OVEN TO 325˚F • 1 5-pound organic roasting chicken • Extra-virgin olive oil • 3 cloves of garlic, minced and then mashed together with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt • Freshly ground black pepper • 1 organic lemon • Fresh rosemary or thyme • fingerling potatoes, optional • organic carrots, optional 1. Rinse and dry the chicken. Place in a roasting pan. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and rub over the entire bird. Take the garlic- salt mixture and rub over the chicken. Sprinkle with the freshly ground pepper. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice of one of the halves over the chicken. Place the unsqueezed lemon into the cavity of the bird, along with an addition clove or 2 of garlic, if desired. Take the fresh rosemary or thyme sprigs and lay across the top of the chicken. Surround the chicken with the potatoes and carrots, if using. 2. Place the roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven, and bake at 325˚ for 2 hours. If roasting vegetables along-side, stir occasionally, and adding additional olive oil if needed. Remove from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 5 minutes before devouring. TAKE a LOOK:
6 Comments
1/29/2011 01:28:53 am
I too, have been roasting the same tried and true bird for 20 years. Though I have tried new methods, w/ onions, without, with oranges, without. With rosemary, without. I always go back to my same favorite way. 1/30/2011 12:23:49 am
Eileen, you need to be more careful with your photographs. Such images can bring doubts to the most stalwart vegetarians.
Lisa
2/10/2011 04:16:42 am
Eileen, there is nothing better than a roasted chicken and the wonderful smells in the home. I roast mine as you do, but add a sliced apple and onion inside, sometimes an orange cut up. I slide my rosemary and garlic with olive oil between the meat and the skin and baste with the juices several times. Not too healthy, but love eating the crunchy, flavorful skin. Thanks! Lisa in Delaware Leave a Reply. |
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