After relaying my awful engagement chicken story to my friend, Christie, she kindly passed along a chicken recipe, which she had success making. I nailed this one on my first try - woo hoo! Thank you Christie, you saved my reputation with my husband for being able to cook a whole chicken!
Christie's Lemon Roasted Chicken
Serves: 4
1 (4-5 lb.) Roasting Chicken
1 small Orange, quartered
1 small Lemon, quartered
1 small Onion, peeled, quartered
2 Bay Leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove any giblets from the inside the chicken. This is definitely my least favorite part of the recipe, but you can do it! Just count to three, stick your hand in, pull out all the unwanted parts and throw them in the trash! Make sure you have the trash can near-by. Once that's over with (phew!) stuff the cavity of the bird with the orange, lemon, onion, and bay leaves. If not everything fits, stuff as much in as you can, it will wilt while cooking.
If you have cooking twine, tie the legs together. I didn't happen to have any on hand, so I left this step out. The twine definitely makes it look a little prettier and supposed to help it cook more evenly. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken, then transfer it to a roasting pan and drizzle with the olive oil. Roast until a thermometer inserted into the chicken thigh registers 180 degrees and the juices run clear, about 70-90 minutes.
Check on the chicken about every 15 minutes while cooking and baste it with any juices. If it starts to get too brown while in the oven, tent it with foil.
Once your chicken reaches 180 degrees, take it out of the oven, cover with foil and let rest for about 5-10 minutes. This will help the juices redistribute throughout the chicken. The 4-lb chicken I used, took 70 minutes in the oven. I have also made this recipe with a 4.25 lb chicken and it took about 85 minutes in the oven. The chicken is now ready to eat! Enjoy!
xoxo Melissa
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