April 26, 2010

Roasted Chicken


I have never successfully roasted a whole chicken in a crock pot. We've tried at least three times and each time, a flavourless chicken with soggy skin came out.

Last week though, whole chickens were on sale so I decided to give it one last shot. I scoured the internet for a good recipe and merged a few based on what I had on hand. This one rejected the crock pot and that soggy skin and instead instructed me to put the chicken in the oven. A novel idea.

It was easy to make, smelled delicious and most of all, tasted great with moist meat and crispy skin. I prepared this in advance and T put it in the oven when he came home from work. When I got home, our whole condo smelled delicious.

It was tough to not cut into it immediately when it came out of the oven, but I think the most critical step is letting it rest for 15 minutes so all the juices can be reabsorbed making the chicken moist, instead of running all over your cutting board.

Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 onion
  • fresh garlic cloves
  • spices -- I used a tsp each of dried oregano, basil and rosemary, though I'm sure fresh would have been even better, and this is just what I had, so go ahead and try other combinations
  • a few tablespoons of olive oil
Directions

Put spices in a small bowl and add oil. Mix together.

Cut lemon in half, rough chop the onion and peel and smash garlic cloves. You won't be eating these, they're just for flavour while the chicken is cooking

Rinse chicken and stuff with lemon, onion and garlic



Pour oil and spices over chicken and rub in with your hands



I used the twine that came on the chicken to tie his legs back together, but it wasn't necessary

Place on a baking sheet and let this sit in the fridge for a bit to marinate

Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 1 hour, 15 minutes

Important: once you take it out of the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes while all the juices reabsorb into the meat, making it truly melt in your mouth

I have no good recommendations for how to cut a chicken well, but know that it's a bit messy but still delicious



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