With today's inflation, an entire meal for less than $20, maybe less than $10 if you
grow your own herbs is a wonderful relief. If you haven't checked lately, whole chickens
are still a great deal because you do have to have the time to wait for at least an hour before you eat. Try this on a Sunday and then have leftovers on Monday--win-win!
By the way, I know this picture is weird--I was trying to make roasted chicken attractive and instead, the lemons look like aliens from another planet! Ah, well, I promise it's tasty!
Enjoy the laugh!
Easy Herb-Roasted Chicken with Roasted Veggies
Ingredients:
For the roasted chicken:
1 3.5 to 4 pound whole chicken
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped (this is so good, you pretty much Need fresh)
Rosemary stems
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon, sliced
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
2. Wash the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Season the cavity with salt and pepper and season the outside of the chicken as well (tip: I don’t put a lot or any, the herbs have enough flavor).
3. In a bowl, mix together the garlic, thyme, sage, rosemary, and olive oil. Rub into the cavity of the chicken as well as the outside.
4. Place the rosemary stems inside the cavity and squeeze the lemon juice inside as well. Leave the slices inside and place the chicken in a roasting pan (I cover the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil for easy clean-up). Cook in the oven at 475 degrees for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until the chicken is golden brown and the juices run clear. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before carving.
Roasted Veggies:
(This is where I vary from the original—the men in my family are picky about their vegetables).
Ingredients:
1 medium potato per person, chopped in chunks
2 onions, also chopped in chunks
½ pound baby carrots
(Add other vegetables according to your family’s taste—we all love broccoli while I’m the only one who enjoys beets or butternut squash, any vegetable tastes good with this combination)
2 tablespoons olive oil
(The original recipe also calls for truffle oil, but I never seem to have any)
Paula Dean’s salt, pepper, and garlic powder mix (I’ll share soon)
Fresh rosemary sprigs (strip the leaves off the woody branches and toss the branch)
Directions:
Place vegetables in a glass baking dish (I use a 9 x 13 but size doesn’t matter in this case—however much you want). Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with seasonings.
Roast at 400 degrees 45 minutes, stirring every ten to fifteen minutes. Test the potatoes for doneness by piercing them with a fork—when the tines slide right through—enjoy!
*This recipe comes from Cook Yourself Thin, by Candice Kumai, Harry Eastwood, and Allison Fishman, copyright 2009. I first made this in 2013, and the comments were, “No truffle oil—but veggies still great! Chicken also yum.”