This is by far my favorite dish with hints of Meyer lemon and sea salt and I like to add some roasted baby potatoes to the pan to soak up some of the juices. I use ‘Mary’s Organic Chicken‘ always for the best meat, always tender & juicy, it costs a little more but I think it’s worth the extra few bucks. (And they didn’t pay me to say that). And I love to tuck into the pan the ‘Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes’ from Melissa’s Produce!
You can dress this up by making the ‘pan’ sauce listed in the recipe of you can by pass it. I’ve also made brioche dressing for the side and it makes a great holiday dish without the hassle of cooking a whole turkey dinner. Add a beautiful green vegetable and you’ll find an easy weeknight dinner. It pairs well with my Spring Asparagus recipe. Prep all the ingredients the night before & you can walk in the door, pop the chicken in a preheated oven and within the hour you’ll have the best meal in town, no drive through chicken can EVER take the place of a chicken roasted at home.
Lemon Roasted Chicken
- Serves 4
- 1 whole chicken -- rinsed, drained and dried
- 1 medium onion -- peeled and chopped
- 3 baby carrots -- peeled and chopped
- 3 celery stalks -- cut into chunks
- 1 lemon -- zested and juiced; preferably Meyer lemon
- 1 bunch Italian flat leaf parsley -- minced
- 1 bunch fresh sage -- minced
- 1/2 bunch fresh thyme -- minced
- 2 tablespoons butter -- room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon olive oil, butter or regular olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons chicken demi glace -- optional for sauce
Preheat oven to 400°.
Wash and dry chicken inside and out then dry well. Fit chicken into a roasting pan (you want no more than 1" of space on any side of the chicken otherwise the juices will burn).
Mix together onion, carrot, celery, lemon zest, and 1/2 of the minced herbs. Loosely stuff cavity with some of the ingredients, place the remainder on the bottom of the roasting pan and place chicken on top of the aromatic vegetables.
Mix remaining minced herbs with butter. Gently separate the chicken skin from the breast meat and carefully rub herb butter on breast under the skin.
Rub the chicken with lemon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon over chicken and place rind into cavity. Insert probe thermometer into thigh and set for 165 degrees. Pour half of the wine and chicken stock in the bottom of the pan and place, uncovered in hot oven.
Baste after 1/2 hour, if you don't have enough juice in pan use some chicken stock. Do not cover bird until browned and then loosely place foil over breast. If wings start to brown to early wrap with foil.
Remove chicken to a warm plate and loosely cover with foil. Let rest for 10 minutes before carving.
Remove some of the fat in the pan by using a paper towel or ice cubes. (Dredge the paper towel through the juices to pull out some of the fat or pour off the juices into a heat proof measuring cup. Add a few ice cubes; the fat will stick to the cold cube, discard cube. You may have to do this several times).
Put the roasting pan on top of the stove over medium-high heat and bring a boil, add remaining wine and stock scraping the fond (the yummy pieces stuck to the pan) from the bottom of the pan. Reduce by half, add demi-glace if using and serve with chicken.
I know some of you aren’t gardeners but like to have some fresh herbs around for creative cooking. Now you can buy herbs in the market and remove some of the bottom leaves and store them in a vase changing the water every day or you could easily grow some major herbs in pots on your patio or railing. You could choose to grow them in one big pot or give each herb it’s own container (then it’s a little easier to change out the plants). You could plant seeds and tend to them as they grow but if you’re not into gardening start as transplants.
