Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Roasted Chicken


Do you ever walk by those Roasted Chickens at the grocery store and just immediately get hungry? The smell is intoxicating. I thought roasted chicken would be the perfect dinner last night, but I am not one that usually buys precooked meats, I just get worried about bacteria and things along those lines. So, I decided to try my hand at my very first roasted chicken. It was surprisingly easy, and satisfyingly tasty and moist!


I looked at a few different recipes to get an idea of what to do, so this is an amalgamation of about 5 different recipes. You should do the same! Look at a few and get the basics of what you have to do (cooking temperature, time, things like that) and then play around with the flavorings!


Happy roses from the garden! Flowers make any normal evening special. 

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Ingredients:
1 Roasting Chicken (not frying chicken)
Salt and pepper and other seasonings of choice (I used Cavender's Greek seasoning)
1/4 stick (two tablespoons) of butter, melted
1 lemon cut into slices
5 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
1 yellow onion, cut into large chunks
20-30 baby carrots, almost one whole small bag (I snacked on the rest of them!)
Butcher's twine

Steps:
1. Gather your ingredients and preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

I had already washed and seasoned my chicken in this picture.

2. Remove any innards from the chicken, and then wash with water and pat dry.
3. Liberally season the outside and inside of the chicken with salt, pepper and your choice of other seasonings.
4. Fill the cavity of the chicken with as many pieces of onion, garlic, carrot, and lemon you can possible fit.

5. Tie the legs together with the Butcher's twine.
6. Spread the remaining carrots, garlic, onion and lemon slices evenly across the bottom of a large baking dish or roasting pan.


7. Place the chicken (with legs up) on top of these veggies.


8. Brush the chicken with all of the melted butter.





9. Bake the chicken for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Basted the chicken every so often with the juices that accumulate in the dish. My chicken came with one of those devices that pops up when it is cooked through, but I also used my meat thermometer just to make sure. When you cut into the meat, the juices should run clear, as that indicates fully cooked chicken.


10. Enjoy with mashed potatoes, corn muffins and a fresh salad!



Shafer helping Bunker with some late night work!


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