Perfect Roast Chicken

My family was in town over Christmas and I wanted to cook a yummy meal for them!  Aaron and I purchased a roasting pan a few weeks before that and I've always wanted to attempt to roast a chicken.  This recipe has many firsts for me.  I have never done anything with fennel and I've never "cooked" carrots.  I have also never messed with raw chicken.  First, I assumed that the "insides" of the chicken were in a bag that you can just remove.  I open this bird up, and noooooo.... it is all in there attached and stuff!  Also, the neck is still attached.  I'm a nurse and can handle a lot, but I cannot remove chicken parts.  I cannot face that I have a beheaded chicken.  I panic for a second and then call on my Daddy.  I'm so glad he was there because we wouldn't be having roasted chicken if he wasn't!  He took out the guts for me and helped Aaron take the neck off.  The rest is easy, but man oh man, all the raw chicken parts was brutal!  Thanks Dad for helping me!

 



Perfect Roast Chicken

(from Ina Garten)

Ingredients:

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch of fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs

1 lemon (halved)

1 head of garlic (cut in half crosswise)

2 tablespoons butter (melted)

1 large yellow onion (thickly sliced)

4 carrots cut into 2 inch chunks

1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, cut into wedges

Olive oil

 

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2.    Remove chicken giblets, rinse the chicken inside and out.

3.    Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry.

4.    Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. 

5.    Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of the lemon, and all the garlic.

6.    Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter (I also butter the inside of the skin).  Sprinkle the outside with salt and pepper.

7.    Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. 

8.    Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan.  Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil.  Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan.

9.    Place chicken on top of vegetables.

10.  Roast chicken for 1 ½ hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. 

11. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum for about 20 minutes.  Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with vegetables.