Perfect Roast Chicken

There are a couple of different recipes, techniques, and restaurants I consider cooking/foodie rites of passage. One of them is roasting the perfect chicken and that's what I tackled last week and it turned out FABULOUS! It was a lot easier than I anticipated so I urge you to try this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 4-5 pound whole free range chicken

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon halved

1 whole garlic bulb halved through the equator
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Sage
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups button mushrooms
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F. Rinse the chicken with cool water inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Season the cavity with salt and pepper. Then stuff the cavity with lemon, half of the garlic bulb, a sprig fresh rosemary, 2 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 sprig fresh sage. In a food processor combine butter, 3 cloves garlic (minced), 1 sprig rosemary, 1 sprig thyme, and 1 sprig sage and process until well combined. Season the butter with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken breast side up in roasting pan. Tie the legs of the chicken together with kitchen twine. (In a pinch you can use dental floss.) Rub the herb butter with a pastry brush all over the chicken. Put the mushrooms in the bottom of the pan. Put in all extra garlic cloves, and tear off small parts of all spices and lay on top. Pour a small amount of extra virgin olive oil on the mushrooms. Roast the chicken and mushrooms for 1 hour and 45 minutes until the drumsticks move easily in the sockets and juices run clear. (180 F in the thickest part of the thigh.) Baste the chicken with any extra butter and drippings and rotate the pan every 30 minutes to ensure a crisp golden skin. Remove the chicken to a platter, tent with foil and let stand 10 minutes before carving.

This was one of the best roasted chickens I've ever had! The skin was so crisp and the meat was so juicy. The flavors blended perfectly and the mushrooms were amazing.

Rite of passage #1, down!

Much Love,

-Jess