Thursday, March 11, 2010

Roast Chicken

I've made Roast Chicken several times recently but I've forgotton to photograph until after we'd carved it. Roast Chicken is a wonderful Sunday dinner.

As with all roasting, this chicken is cooked at a high temperature. The last couple of times I've made this, we've had to turn off the smoke detector, open the doors and windows because of all the smoke it created. I did some reading and discovered there are a couple of things you can do to prevent this. One, which I used this time, is to line the bottom with vegetables. The other way is to put water or chicken broth in the bottom of the pan. This worked perfectly, no smoke at all and the oven is so much cleaner.

Roast Chicken is a perfect Sunday dinner. The great thing about Roast Chicken is you can cook once and have at least two more meals from one chicken. I use the leftover chicken for chicken salad or chicken quesadillas and I make chicken broth from the bones.

Do you have a favorite roast chicken recipe?




Roast Chicken
Adapted from Ina Garten

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
4 - 5 potatoes cut into chunks
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and potatoes. Toss with salt, pepper, thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh or a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 180. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

7 comments:

  1. I just had to comment about setting off the smoke alarm. Several of the recipes from the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge have us baking bread at 500 degrees then throwing some steam in there to boot. I've read so many comments about smoke alarms going off, one gal even calls her home security system company to let them know when she's baking bread....LOLOL

    Great recipe Julie!(Ina never fails us, does she?)

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  2. I looks beautiful! I love roasted chicken too. My favorite recipe is so simple lemon juice and garlic, s & p. You can never go wrong with Ina!

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  3. Believe it or not, THIS is my favorite roast chicken. Ina is famous for her chicken; I'd never make it any other way.
    The photo made me very hungry!

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  4. Hey Julie, I posted about adopt a blogger and YOU on my blog today!

    I love roast chicken, especially because it's versatile. I've posted two roast chicken recipes on my blog so far, but I've made numerous variations. Yours looks delicious!

    Sunday roast chicken:

    http://hopieskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/04/sunday-roast-chicken.html

    Honey roast chicken with leeks:
    http://hopieskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/11/honey-roast-chicken-with-leeks.html

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  5. I heart roast chicken and so does my family. I just made the SMS carrot cake..turned out good!

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  6. I love chicken and roasted chicken is the best! Yours looks fabulous!(Ina is the best, isn't she?)

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  7. You can't go wrong with an Ina recipe. This chicken looks like it turned out wonderful for you.

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