Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken


I had some facebook requests for this recipe.  However, I did not have a chance to take photos today, so I will have to add them later.

Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, or whatever chicken you have on hand (I usually add a package of about 6 extra legs as well because my kids prefer them)
2 lemons
1 red onion
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs kosher salt
3 sprigs fresh rosemary

Preparation:

****I always butterfly the chicken or you can just cut it into pieces.   To butterfly the chicken just cut out the back bone using kitchen shears.  Then I make a cut into the breast bone and give it a whack so the chicken will lie relatively flat.  I can roast a chicken this way in 40-45 minutes, which makes Roast Chicken a doable weekday dinner.****

Put chicken into a large freezer bag. Pull needles off the rosemary sprigs and put into bag. Squeeze juice of lemons into bag. Add salt, olive oil and quartered onion (honestly, I don't even measure this stuff anymore. This is an easy recipe not a science project.) Marinate for a couple of hours or overnight (overnight is best or freeze at this point for a future meal.) 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature before cooking if possible.  If not you may have to cook it a few minutes longer (don't stress about this part, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't and it is only about a 5 minutes difference in cooking time.)  Once chicken is at room temperature, lay the chicken (skin side up) along with lemon rinds and onion pieces, on a foil-lined pan. Add remaining sprig of rosemary torn into a few pieces and tuck into leg and breast of chicken. cook for 40-45 minutes. The chicken should now be crisp-skinned and tender within. Take the pan out and cut  up the chicken. Arrange on a plate along with onoin bits Pour over an syrupy goldent juices from the pan and sprkinle generously with sea salt. cut a lemon or two into quarters and scatter these around the chicken 

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