Lemon and Rosemary Roast Chicken

This Thanksgiving I was surprised to learn I would be making a full holiday dinner with less than 48 hours' notice. Consequently, we ended up having a chicken rather than a turkey since the grocery store was out of fresh turkey and there was no way I could defrost a frozen one in time. So I searched online and found a couple of recipes that inspired me, but the end result was a new recipe of ≈mostly≈ my own.

I started with really the most basic of ingredients: Fresh chicken (about 5 pounds), fresh rosemary, lemon, onion, garlic, and butter. It sounds simple enough, right? That's because it is. In my travels around the internet I've learned there are a great number of people who are afraid to roast a chicken. Don't be! It's one of the easiest things to do. 

I softened about 1 1/2 sticks of butter in the microwave, then zested the lemon into the bowl. I also added about two sprigs' worth of fresh rosemary (minced fine) and a little salt and pepper. Then I mixed it to make sure everything was combined well.

Next is the ridiculously messy part. Sure, you could try to do this with a rubber spatula or something, but you're going to get better results if you get your hands in the butter and rub it all over the chicken. Even then it won't necessarily cover the entire surface (as you can see from where the bare meat shows through on mine), but you want to rub it all over, both under and on top of the skin.

From there, grab another couple of sprigs of rosemary, and peel and quarter some garlic and onion. You'll also want to quarter your lemon, and squeeze the juice over top of your freshly-buttered chicken. After that if you want you can sprinkle some salt and pepper on the chicken as well.

Take the onion, garlic, whole rosemary, and what's left of your lemon and stuff them inside the bird. Ideally they'll fit without sticking out, but the world won't end if they do. Mine probably would have stayed inside had I not been lazy and left it open instead of tying the legs together and/or closing the cavity with toothpicks or skewers. I wasn't that into it, though, and the items inside are purely for flavour so I didn't care if they got a little burned.

Something like two hours later, what comes out is a beautifully roasted, flavour-infused bird worthy of a holiday table. I ended up basting about every 15-20 minutes as I was making other things and getting in the oven anyway. I also ended up tenting some aluminum foil over the top for a while because my bird was browning a bit too quickly.

It came out perfectly moist, easy to carve, and the lemon, rosemary, and onion I thought added a decorative touch. Or, you know, I was too lazy to remove them when I transferred the chicken to a platter. Whichever.

Lemon and Rosemary Roast Chicken

Serves 6

1 (5 pound) whole roasting chicken

4 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 large lemon

salt and pepper (to taste)

1 medium onion

3 garlic cloves

3/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 425F; line a roasting pan or 9x13-inch pan with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Remove giblets from chicken (discard or keep, your choice), rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Lay chicken in prepared pan, breast side up, and loosen skin on breast and thighs.

Finely mince 2 sprigs of rosemary and add to butter. Zest entire lemon and add zest to butter. Mix together until well-combined; add salt and pepper to taste.

Rub butter mixture over entire chicken, getting some under the loosened skin as well as on top, on the bottom and in all the crevices and folds.

Quarter lemon and onion, and squeeze lemon juice over chicken. Stuff the onion, garlic, lemon, and remaining two sprigs rosemary into cavity. Seal cavity if you wish; tie legs together if you wish.

Cover chicken with tented aluminum foil and bake at 425F for 1 1/2 hours, basting every 20 or so minutes. Remove foil and continue roasting and basting an additional 30 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 175-180F. Remove chicken from oven, return tented aluminum foil to top, and let stand 15-20 minutes before carving.

Serving Size: 442 g

Calories: 942

Calories from Fat: 462

Total Fat: 51.4 g

Saturated Fat: 22.4 g

Cholesterol: 397 mg

Sodium: 490 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 4.8 g

Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g

Sugars: 1.2 g

Protein: 110.1 g

*The nutrition  information is a little misleading, as it assumes you're actually eating all that butter. You're not. As you can see in the picture above, when you take your chicken out of the oven there is a great deal of melted butter left in the pan. Leave it there. Your arteries will thank you.

The two recipes that inspired this one are from:

The Pioneer Woman and Divas Can Cook