Herb Roasted Chicken
Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
1 whole (5 lb.) chicken
1 onion, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
8 cloves garlic
bunch of fresh thyme leaves, plus 1 Tbsp. additional fresh chopped thyme
a sprig of rosemary
a few sage leaves
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
a little olive oil
baby yukon gold potatoes whole (or halved if you think they are too big)
parsnips, cut into 1" chunks or any other veggies of your choosing
salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 and place your rack in the lower third of the oven (so that the chicken will basically be cooking in the center of the oven).
Clean/scrub the baby gold potatoes.
Add them to the roasting pan with the parsnips and add just a little bit of oil and salt and pepper.
Toss together.
Nestle the roasting rack into the pan (you don't need a roasting rack, but I prefer to use one; if you don't have one, make a bed with the vegetables and put the chicken over those).
Remove the giblets/neck from the cavity of the chicken.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry.
Sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper, and then stuff it with the fresh bunch of thyme leaves, lemon, onion, garlic, sage and rosemary.
Mix the Tbsp. of fresh chopped thyme with the softened butter.
Carefully pull the skin of the chicken away from the meat and rub the herb butter in between the skin and the meat (you can just put a few globs of the butter in front of the breast and then massage the butter back; be sure to also add a little to the drumsticks/thighs).
Rub the skin with just a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken on the roasting rack (or on the vegetables) and roast until the internal temperature reaches 170 (check at the thickest part of the thigh).
Place the chicken under a foil tent for 10 minutes before serving.
