Whole Roasted Chicken

Whole Roasted Chicken

(4 to 6 servings)

Ingredients:

4 to 5 lb. Whole Fresh Chicken

1 Carrot cut in 4 or 5 pieces

1 Stalk, Celery cut into 4 or 5 pieces

½ Small Yellow Onion cut into 4 pieces

4 Tbsp. Butter, room temperature

1 Tsp. Rosemary, crushed

1 Tsp. Thyme, crushed

Salt & Black Pepper, as needed

1 Cup Liquid

Directions:

To start, remove any giblets in the chicken’s body cavity and toss or safe for a future dish.  Now rinse the chicken inside and out under cold running water and let drain.  While chicken is draining, rinse and cut up the carrot, celery and onion and set aside.  Combine the butter, rosemary and thyme in a small bowl with a fork until thoroughly mixed and set aside.  Take the chicken and pat dry.  Sprinkle a little salt and pepper in the body cavity and add the vegetables.  Pack them in if necessary.  Place the chicken in a roasting pan on a rack.  Take your hand with some of the butter mixture in it and spread under the chicken skin all over the breast.  Using some more of the butter mixture and spread it all over the outside of the chicken.  Now add the cup of liquid to the pan and place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven.  Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until a thermometer registers 165 degrees.  Remember to check the chicken from time to time to see if you need more liquid.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before carving/serving.

Note:               For the liquid, you can use just plain water or chicken broth.  I

                           personally like to use white wine.

Note:               Some people like to set the oven as high as 425 degrees when

                           roasting a chicken.  If you do that, watch your time and how

                          dark the skin may get.

Note:               For a taste change, instead of the vegetables, try some citrus.

                          Lemons, limes and oranges add great flavor.  Just use some

                          zest in the butter mixture and cut up the fruit and place in the

                          body cavity.

Note:               One more note for those not wanting to use butter in this dish.

                          You can use olive oil to rub under and over the chicken skin.

                          It will still help with the browning of the skin.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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