Having never roasted a Chicken before (can you believe it?), we decided that it was high time we gave it a shot. Man oh man, we won’t be waiting very long before we do this again, that’s for sure. It was awesome! Moist and really, really flavorful and way better than we expected for a first try.
Like most things we’ve been slow (ie: too scared) to try, we kind of thought there might be more of a trick to this than there really was. Sister Amy made it sound like something we could probably manage so we summoned up the courage to give it a go.
After poring through about a million recipes on the internet we cobbled one together that sounded to us like a pretty sure thing: slide some Butter and Thyme under the skin, stuff the bird with bunches of fresh Thyme, Lemon wedges, and smashed cloves of Garlic, and then drizzle the whole thing with Olive Oil and Salt & Pepper. Yes, it really was just about that easy…
Ingredients:
- 1 whole Chicken, washed and patted dry (don’t forget to take the sundry bits and parts out of the cavity)
- 1 bunch of fresh Thyme
- 3-4 Garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 Lemon, quartered
- Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper
Prep:
- Preheat the oven to 350°
- Thoroughly wash and pat dry the Chicken inside and out
- Salt & Pepper the inside of the bird and then stuff it with the Lemon wedges, Garlic cloves, and a majority of the fresh Thyme
- Carefully slide your fingers under the skin on the breasts and legs to loosen it
- Slide a tablespoon or two of butter and some sprigs of Thyme between the skin and body on each breast and leg and smoosh it all around from the outside
- Sprinkle the outside of the bird with Olive Oil and Salt & Pepper
- Place the Chicken in a roasting pan, stick it in the oven, and cook until the densest part of the leg meat registers 170° and the juices run clear, about an hour to an hour and a half
- When it’s done cooking, pull it out of the oven, cover it, and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Carve it up and serve it!!
Afterthoughts:
This turned out really, really great. We were very happy with the flavor and the juiciness of the chicken and the prep was way easier than we had feared. There are a couple of places this recipe could be improved we think:
- The first would be to make sure to use a roasting pan with a rack. We didn’t have one so we went without and the underside of the chicken was a little mushy (it’ll make great chicken stock, though)
- Second, we’ll probably butterfly the chicken next time. There’s some great videos online that describe this process and it looks like it would significantly shorten the cooking time.
- Third, we’d really like to try a compound butter of some kind under the skin, instead of just butter and Thyme. We’re thinking specifically of putting some truffle oil in it (ala the turkeys from Gordon Ramsay and this site), but we’re not sure yet.
- Last, we’ll have more people on hand to eat it. It was just the two of us this time around and we sort of over-indulged a bit. A whole chicken with side dishes is probably enough to feed 4-6 people, depending on the menu that you prepare with it. We just had a simple salad of mixed greens and avocado slices.
q9rgGz Very true! Makes a change to see someone spell it out like that.
How many home runs can you hit…
Once again, thanks for the excellent post….