Sunday Roast Chicken

Finding time during the week to make a home-cooked meal can be hard, so on Sunday nights I like to make something big that will last for a couple of days. This Sunday I made a roast chicken with vegetables. While cooking a whole chicken can seem intimidating at first, it is really quite easy. This doesn't involve any real measuring or counting, so that makes the whole process much more enjoyable for me.

Here's what you will need:


Step 1: Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken in cold water. Remove that pleasant little bag of "stuff" from the cavity of the chicken. One day, I'll try and do something with it, but for now, it just seems kind of unhealthy/gross. Place an entire lemon and some herbs (rosemary, thyme, and anything else you may like) inside the cavity of the chicken.



Step 2: Place the vegetables around the chicken. You can use any assortment of vegetables you want. I used a combination of carrots, parsnips, different types of potatoes, and some root vegetables---and garlic cloves, of course! Season the chicken with salt and freshly ground pepper, and then squeeze a lemon all over the chicken and vegetables.



Step 3: Drizzle the chicken and vegetables with olive oil, and make sure to rub the olive oil into the chicken (I sprinkled it one more time with salt and pepper, for good measure). Then pour 1 cup of white wine over the vegetables.


Step 4: Place the chicken in the oven and cook 30 minutes at 475°F. Then, lower the temperature to 375°F and cook for another hour until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 180°F. The skin should be crisp and brown.



List of ingredients:

1 6-pound roasting chicken
2 lemons
2-3 Sprigs of fresh rosemary (and any other herbs you might like)
8 cloves of garlic
Assortment of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and at least 1 onion.
1 cup of white wine
olive oil
coarse salt
freshly ground pepper