Roast Chicken

A few months ago I read this article around the time Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook came out. I thought it was pretty funny that when asked what her ideal meal to win over her heart, her answer was: roast chicken, because that its almost impossible to f* up! I totally agree.

Roast chicken has to be one of my favorite comfort meals. I feel a lot of people are skeptical to dealing with a whole chicken, but in all honestly, its a cinch! The hardest part of it, is the cutting, which is really not that bad. Another reason some people veer away from making a whole chicken is they aren't sure when its done. My solution? Just buy a meat thermometer, and as long as you hit 165, you're good to go! Another way to be pretty sure, is to poke it with a knife, and if clear juices pour out vs. the pink juices, it's pretty much done.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 tbsp butter
3 cloves minced garlic
1 Lemon
3-4 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
Salt & Pepper
1 beer




Pre-heat oven at 350 F. Make sure to remove any giblets from the cavity of the chicken before you start seasoning and place in center of the pan, breast down. Take 1/2 the tspn of butter and cut into little pieces. Lift the skin of the chicken and place little bits of the butter under the skin with 1/2 of the minced garlic and rub around. *This keeps the chicken moist and helps the browning of the skin. Salt and Pepper to taste, drizzle some olive oil over and squeeze 1/2 the lemon over. Flip so the breast is on top and repeat with remaining butter, garlic and lemon. Salt and pepper this side as well and loosely sprinkle with the thyme and rosemary. Also drizzle some olive oil on top. Cut the squeezed lemons into quarters and place in the cavity of the chicken. Open the beer, can or bottle and pour around the chicken, pour the last 1/4 into the cavity of the chicken. Place in oven and cook for around 1 hour and 15-30 minutes (may vary depending on the size of the chicken as well as your oven).

You should always check on the chicken every 20 minutes or so and baste it. (With a cooking brush, dip into the liquids and brush over the chicken). This helps to keep it moist as well as enhance the coloring and crunchy texture on the skin. Once it's done, let sit for 10 minutes before you start carving it out.

 This chicken was extremely juicy, but if you like to have a little sauce to go over it, use the left over juices in the roasting pan, place in a saucepan, and add a 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch and whisk well over low heat. Nothing beats a great home-made pan gravy!