Easy Roast Chicken

I vowed that I would never in my life make a chicken, turkey, quail, or any kind of bird that would require me sticking a hand inside of it. Luckily for me, my husband doesn't mind doing that and I now have a new favorite dinner. Roast Chicken. It's easy to prepare and even easier to eat. Even the white meat is juicy!  What's even better is all of the leftovers you can get out of it.  I'm currently in the habit of making this every other Sunday, but when there are more mouths around here that actually eat chicken (the baby won't), I could see this becoming a weekly tradition.

Serves 6, but we just use the leftovers to make something else.

Ingredients:

1 5-6 lb. roasting chicken

salt and pepper

1 large bunch of fresh thyme

1 lemon, halved

1 head of garlic, cut in half

4 T. butter, melted divided

1 yellow onion, thickly sliced

1 c. chicken stock

2 T. all purpose flour

How:

Preheat the oven to 425.

Remove the giblets(or have your significant other do this). Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a roasting pan. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, both halves of the lemon, and the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with 2 T. of melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Scatter the onion slices around the chicken

Roast the chicken for 1.5 hours or until the juices run clear. Remove to a platter and cover with aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy.

Remove all the fat from the bottom of the pan (my chickens never seem to leave any fat). Add the chicken stock to the pan and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes and scrape the bottom of the pan. Combine the 2 T. flour with the remaining 2 T. melted butter and add to the pan. Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes to cook the flour. Strain the gravy into a small saucepan and season it to taste. Keep it warm over a very low flame while you carve the chicken.

Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve immediately with the warm gravy.

Original recipe can be found in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten.

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