Easy Roasted Chicken
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| I know what you're thinking, and no, it's not possible to wait and find a camera before eating the chicken. It's just not possible. |
I’m talkin’ about a roasted chicken, yall. A whole, glorious giblets and all, bird. I really wanted to roast a chicken last month, and again last weekend—but I didn’t. One could say I chickened out (har har). My sources, one a website and one a human (hi, Maria!), said it’s real easy. Real easy is good; especially when working with raw meat, especially when cooking for one who visited the hospital on account of poorly cooked meat (hi, B!).
I finally stopped being…chicken (sorry) and got ready for roasting last Sunday. Just to be safe, I pulled up a recipe as guidance. The result was a home that smelled like a holiday, empty plates from everyone who was invited to the dinner table, and leftovers for the week ahead.
My Take on Ina’s Perfect Roast Chicken…Plus Gravy
1 (5-6 pound) roasting chicken
salt
pepper
1 large bunch of oregano
1 lemon, halved
1 head of garlic
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons flour
1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Remove the chicken giblets (eww!). Rinse the chicken (inside and out) and pat dry.
3. Salt and pepper it—everywhere. Stuff it with all the oregano you could find, both lemon halves and all the garlic (I pealed mine, but I doubt this is necessary).
4. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and try to tuck the wings back. If you can figure out a way to tuck them back where they stay back, let me know.
5. Brush the butter over the top of the bird and sprinkle with salt and pepper again.
6. Roast in a baking pan for 1 ½ hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. If you’ve got a fancy meat thermometer, poke through the thickest part of the meat and look for a temp of 165F or above.
7. Remove chicken from oven and cover with a tin foil tent for 20 minutes.
8. Slice, serve and enjoy.
I found that I had enough drippings from the bird to make a quick gravy, so I did. C’mon, it would be sacrilegious to drain this roasted gold; just make the gravy. When I removed my bird from the oven, I transferred it to a cookie sheet to rest so I could get my gravy prep on. I whisked in a tablespoon or two of flour and put the pan back into the oven to cook. I turned the oven to broil and within a few minutes my gravy started bubbling. Three minutes was about all it took to thicken up to my liking. At this point, I pulled it out and added a little lemon juice, a splash of cream (hey, when in Rome) and some extra oregano. Voila!
And the leftovers? You will have oh so much leftover. I suggest chicken BLTs, chicken tossed onto a salad, or hell an exact recreation of this lovely meal with the leftover gravy too. And if you’re strictly team white meat, there are lots of options for repurposing (read: hiding) the dark meat in future meals. Use the thighs for chipotle chicken tacos, or dice up everything dark up real fine and simmer it in a soup. A whole bird cost me a little under $6 and the extra stuffing tasties were a few bucks on top of that. One bird lends itself to about six to seven meals. Yay, frugality!