Let's Roast a Chicken!

So we bought a whole chicken from the Whispering Dove Goat Ranch and Apiary stand at the farmer's market last Saturday. I've been wanting to roast a chicken for a while, but it was new to me. And slightly intimidating. So, I studied up on how to do this here and here.

We let it thaw in the fridge for about a day, seeing that it was frozen. Before the chicken came out the fridge I cleaned out the sink and got all the other parts of the meal ready. I served this meal with homemade mashed potatoes and corn. So I got those ready. Actually I made Michael peel the potatoes, while I did every thing else. Which included getting the rub ready for the chicken and slicing up a lemon and onion to stick inside the chicken.

So after all that was done, we set it aside and pulled the chicken out of the fridge. We plopped it into the sink and gave it a good cold rinsing. Then you have to pull out the giblets (heart, neck, liver) that are inside. From my experience with grocery store chickens and turkeys these are inside a bag, inside the bird, which makes this step fairly simple. Ours were not. So we had to fish them out, no big deal. Kinda gross. This is also a good opportunity to feel around for ice crystals, which would indicate that it was not thawed enough. Then we placed it on a cutting board, and at this point you dry it off with a clean cloth and stuff it with the lemon/onion slices. I only used 1/2 an onion and 1/2 a lemon.

Then I recruited Michael's help to rub the chicken with a oil and herb mixture. Ours consisted of fresh parsley, thyme, dried rosemary, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. I washed my hands, so I could take pictures. I just spooned it on and he made sure it got all over the chicken.

He did a really good job.

Make sure you rub the bottom of the bird, too, before placing it in the pan. Then wash your hands really good, as Michael is demonstrating in this picture:

It is now ready to go into the oven, which was preheated to 450. The legs of our chicken weren't sticking out too far, so we didn't worry about getting out the twine or cutting slits in the skin to stick them through.

Then we put it in the oven for 65 minutes and scrubbed down everything the chicken may have came in contact with. While it was cooking I made the mashed potatoes and corn, there was plenty of time for this, I didn't feel rushed at all. Once the timer went off we pulled it out of the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. I utilized this time to use the dripping to make gravy, which turned out tasting awesome. I just spooned the drippings into a pan, added enough flour to make a paste and cooked it on med-low heat until bubbly. Then I slowly added water until it was the right consistency and seasoned with salt and pepper.

It was such a great meal. We both ate a leg and thigh for dinner. I carved off the breast meat and saved it for later in the week.

While cleaning up the kitchen I used the chicken carcass to make soup, which I'm also going to use for a future dinner. :)

Yum!