Monday, January 24, 2011

Roasted Chicken

Raw poultry can be scary. Especially when you're dealing with the whole chicken. But don't be afraid (can't you just picture Meryl Streep playing Julia Child as I say that?)

I decided to tackle making roast chicken for dinner. It ended up being super easy (and, of course, cheap - it was on sale at the market so I was able to get this 5lb. bird for $3!)

I've provided the play by play to show you how easy it was - and maybe to also have documentation that I actually did it on my own!


Not that scary right? Just place the whole chicken in a roasting pan (of course when dealing with a whole chicken, you need to remember to take out the gizzards. I learned this a little too late. Don't repeat my mistake! Just close your eyes wrap your hand with a plastic bag and reach on in there! Sorry no other way to say it!)

Next, squeeze two lemons and one orange. Make sure juice covers the chicken completely.

Season the chicken. I used lemon garlic pepper and salt. Put in the oven at 400 degrees for one hour.

Remove from oven after an hour and add chopped vegetables of your choice. I used zucchini and onions. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add a little olive oil to the top of the chicken if it starts looking a little dry. Return to the oven for another hour, or until skin is brown.

So I got excited and started cutting up the chicken before I took the "after" shot...

Behold! The finished product!

From start to finish, this took me about 2 hours to make. However, the actual prep time I spent in the kitchen was about 15 min. The rest of the time, the chicken was just in the oven cooking itself.
The best part is that there is enough leftover for the boyfriend's lunch tomorrow and I'll use the rest of the chicken to make soup for tomorrow's dinner!

1 comment: