Last weekend the grocery store was having a nice little sale on whole roasting chickens, and so I figured it was about time to pick one up a do a little roasting. With very little effort and just a few ingredients, you can whip up a really juicy, and tasty, bird. Using fresh herbs is definitely ideal, but for this quick roasting recipe, the only fresh ingredients I used was the garlic gloves. Its still good, I swear.
Ingredients:
Chicken:
4-5 lbs whole chicken (remove plastic sealed innards)
1/2 tablespoon softened butter or margarine
10-15 garlic cloves (remove from bulb, keep in peel)
1 cup white wine or water
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp pepper
1 Tsp herbes de Provence (if not available, parsley/garlic/oregano/thyme/basil etc)
Potatoes:
1 lbs potatoes (white, sweet and/or red)
1-2 tsp rosemary
1-2 tsp Salt
1-2 tsp Pepper
1 Tsp olive oil
Preheat Oven to 400º
Pat chicken dry and rub with butter/margarine on outside and inside cavity
Mix salt, pepper and herb mixture and apply to outside of chicken, inside cavity and carefully underneath skin. Do not puncture skin, but don’t be afraid to separate skin from chicken from underneath Separate garlic cloves from bulb, but do not remove peel. Place half of cloves inside cavity and the reserve the rest for the roasting pan
Tie legs together with kitchen string.
After placing chicken into oven, prepare potatoes, which will require approximately 30 minutes. Cut potatoes into cubes or left whole if small. Blanch potatoes for approximately 5 minutes, 7-10 minutes if using sweet potatoes. Remove from water and let sit.
When chicken is approximately 35 minutes from being cooked, season potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Place potatoes, in single layer next to chicken, or in separate baking dish. Don’t worry if the chicken is ready and potatoes are still not 100% tender. Remove chicken and cover with foil and continue to bake potatoes as needed.
Remove chicken from oven and cover with foil before cutting. At this point, you can remove garlic from pan and cut/spread over potatoes. Extra garlic can be saved for a garlic aioli mayo. As not to crowd this entry, Emril Lagasse has a great recipe that can be found
here.Above recipe can be served with brussels sprouts or any other vegetable. Enjoy!
About Evan
I like to eat. I like to cook. I like to eat what I cook. Now, I will share with you what I like to cook. My wife and I may be a vegetarian and a carnivore, but it doesn’t mean we can’t cook a nice meal with both, without compromising taste. I will share my creative meals of the Carnivore and the Vegetarian.
