This recipe is a staple in our house. It's pretty much foolproof and one of my favorite basics when I'm unmotivated or unsure about what to make for dinner. Serve it with a simple salad, roasted veggies, or steamed green beans with lots of ghee or butter. The kids go crazy over the perfectly seasoned and crispy skin and because you season the butter or ghee before sliding it in between the skin and the meat, the meat is tender, juicy, and seasoned to perfection. Yum! Hope your family loves this recipe as much as mine.
Organic Roast Chicken with Green Beans
Simple Roast Chicken
INGREDIENTS
1 (4-5 lb) roasting chicken
1 lemon, zest and quartered
1 onion, quartered
3 tbs ghee (or 5 tbs of cold butter cut into 5 pieces)
3 tsps sea salt
2 tsps granulated garlic
1 tsps pepper
1 tbs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2 tsps fresh sage leaves, chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine salt, granulated garlic, pepper, lemon zest, rosemary, thyme, and sage. Set aside.
Remove and discard the chicken giblets (can save this for stock if you'd like to). Pat the outside dry. Sprinkle a little bit of the herb mixture into the cavity. Separate the skin from the breast meat and stuff with ghee (or butter) and herb mixture (for best results combine the ghee and herb mixture or roll the cold pieces of butter in the seasoning). Do the same with the thigh meat and skin. Rub the whole bird with ghee and sprinkle with herb mixture.
Stuff the cavity with the quartered lemon and onion.
Use leftover butter or ghee and rub the skin with butter and sprinkle remainder of the seasoning mix all over the bird.
Tie the legs together and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the chicken in a roasting pan with rack.
Place the chicken into the oven and roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until juices run clear when you cut between a leg and a thigh or thickest part of the thigh, but not touching the bone reads 165 degrees with and instant read thermometer or meat thermometer. Remove the chicken to a platter, cover, and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Slice and serve.
TIPS
-You can roast two chickens at the same time. No increase in time to cook is necessary.
-Use the carcass to make chicken bone broth.
-Leftover chicken can be used for leftover salads.
