Roast Chicken

I'm pretty good at planning side dishes, pasta dishes, appetizers, and desserts, but entrees often escape me.  I'm not a big meat eater, though I definitely appreciate it when done right.  With an impending road trip with the husband, I'm trying to find creative ways to empty out the fridge and eat up our leftovers.  Unfortunately, a lot of it is carb-o-licious and not exactly full-meal material.  In an effort to incorporate more protein into our meals, I decided to prepare one item so versatile that it could compliment any of the dinner leftovers in my fridge: chicken.

I was doing my meal planning from the passenger seat of the car today, so I decided to travel light and take Real Simple's Meals Make Easy: Quick and Delicious Recipes for Every Night of the Week.  Lo and behold, the very first recipe in this book is one for "Roast Chicken and Vegetables."  I left out the vegetables part of this recipe because I was already planning to make "Spring Salad with New Potatoes" from my favorite food blog, smitten kitchen.  You can see how that turned out on the right.




Fixins:

• 1 3.5-4 lb chicken
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 lemons, halved
• 1 cup fresh herbs (I used thyme and tarragon)
• 3 Tbs unsalted butter

Cooking large pieces of protein is intimidating to me, especially when bones and innards are involved.  Luckily, my husband has no such qualms and has helped to educate me on some of the best ways to deal with big hunks...of meat ;)  Start off by preheating the oven to 425 degrees.  Next, take the roasting chicken out of it's package.  Remove the innards (neck, liver, etc.), then rinse the chicken inside and out.  This can be tricky, so it never hurts to have a happy helperton by your side.  Also, it helps to be prepared for the next step as your hands will be all chicken-y and you don't want to be touching everything in your kitchen.  I put the chicken directly into the roasting pan, then patted it down with paper towels.  Next, sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper, then stuff the cavity with the lemon halves and herbs.  Rub the outside of the chicken with the room temperature butter, then sprinkle it with salt and pepper.  At this point, the book leaves out an important step, which is to close up the cavity by tying the legs together with kitchen twine and to tuck the wings under the bird.  Make sure the breast side is facing up!  Place the prepared chicken into the oven and roast for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Let it rest a bit before carving it up!

The Result:

It certainly looks pretty!  Luckily, it also tastes good.  The meat is fork-tender, the herbs are aromatic, and the citrus really penetrates the meat.  I wonder if the acid in the lemon helped to break down the meat...I'm no expert, but I'm sure it didn't hurt.  I think the picture is worth a thousand words here.

Repeat:

Most definitely.  This meat is so versatile and the prep really is minimal for such a stunning product.  The best part is that the meat lasts a few meals for a couple of people, so it's a good thing to make on the weekend to make your weeknight cooking that much easier.  Besides, this is way bigger, tastier, and more tender than the equivalent bought at the grocery store that's been sitting under a heat lamp for hours.