Roast Chicken with Vegetables

Nothing is easier to get you started cooking than a roast chicken.  Cross my heart.  Not only is making a roast chicken easy, it is also incredibly easy on the wallet - especially if you get a chicken on sale!  In addition, the leftovers from a roast chicken are delicious just reheated as is, or they can be remade into sandwiches, chicken salad, and countless other dishes.  I firmly believe that a key to being happy with cooking is to eat a variety, otherwise you won't want to do it.  You can have a variety with a roast chicken, without much more investment in other ingredients.

One of the things I like to do is compare prices for ready-made food and food I make myself - just to make sure that I am really saving money.  Here's a quick comparison of a store-bought, ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken and the roast chicken that I made myself.  (Just a note, roasting and rotisserie is the same method of cooking, it's just that the latter of the two rotates while it cooks).  One approximately 4lb store bought chicken will cost you $6 on average: that's $1.50/lb.  I just bought a 9lb chicken on sale for $8, or $.89/lb.  In order to buy 9lbs of chicken ready made at the store, you'd have to spend an extra $5.50.  Let's say you buy a chicken once a month.  That adds up to $66 per year that you can save by making a chicken at home.  Sound like a chunk of money you'd like to save?  Thought so.

So, here's my basic recipe for Roast Chicken with Vegetables.  You can certainly roast a chicken without the veggies, but you're already investing the time to roast a chicken...what's cutting up a few veggies and throwing them in, too?

Roast Chicken with Vegetables

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: Varies based on the size of the chicken

Yield: Varies

Ingredients:

-  One roasting chicken
-  Olive Oil
-  1 Fresh Lemon
-  ~2 tsp Herbs de Provence (or a similar substitute).
-  Several Root Vegetables (Onions, Carrots, Potatoes, Yams)  One or two of each should do.  Feel free to experiment with other root veggies, too.
-  Water - enough to cover the grate at the bottom of the roasting pan.

Tools:

-  Roasting Pan or other oven-safe piece of cookware with a lid (just make sure the chicken will fit first!)
-  Cooking Twine (optional)
-  Cooking Thermometer (optional)

Directions: 

1)  Preheat the oven to 350F.

2)  Remove the bird from the wrappings.  Make sure you do this over the sink, as there will be blood that will drip out.  You don't want to have to worry about cleaning blood off of your countertop.

3)  Reach into the cavity of the bird and remove the packet of "stuff" (a.k.a. giblets). This packet has the innards of the chicken in it.  Sometimes the bird will come with the giblets, and sometimes it won't.  It's best to check and make sure because you do not want to roast the bird with the giblets still inside.

4)  Rinse the chicken - inside and out - in cool, clean water.  Pat the chicken dry with some paper towels, and place the bird - breast side up - on a dish or pan.  This will help keep the chicken in one place as you season it.  A dish or pan will also catch any excess seasoning that falls off, making your cleanup easier.

5)  Take a piece of cooking twine and tie up the legs of the chicken.  This is an optional step.  It just makes handling the bird a little bit easier.

5)  Take the fresh lemon and cut it in half.  Insert both lemon halves into the cavity of the chicken.  In lieu of lemon halves, you could also use stuffing.

6)  Gently separate the skin covering the breast from the meat.  Try not to tear the skin, and do not remove it.  The skin helps retain moisture and prevent the meat from becoming too dry.

7)  Once you have the skin loosened, pour some olive oil (about 1 Tbsp) and herbs de provence (about 1 tsp) in the pocket formed beneath the skin.  Rub the olive oil and herbs into the meat as best you can.  Add more oil or herbs as you see fit.  This will also vary depending upon the size of the chicken you use.  The purpose here is to help infuse flavoring directly into the meat, rather than only on the skin (which is not always eaten).

8)  Use another Tbsp of Olive Oil and tsp of herbs to cover the skin of the chicken.  Don't forget to cover the skin of the wings and legs in addition to the breast.

9)  Fill the bottom of the roasting pan with water until it just covers the grate at the bottom.  If you don't have a roasting pan, make sure to read the amended directions after step 12.

10)  Place the chicken in the roasting pan, on top of the grate, breast side up.

11)  Roughly cut the vegetables to be roasted with the chicken.  Large chunks are fine.

12)  Toss the vegetables around the chicken in the roasting pan.

Amended directions for use without a roasting pan:  Chop the vegetables first, and scatter them across the bottom of your pan.  Then, fill the bottom of the pan with about an inch of water.  Use the vegetables in lieu of a grate to hold up the chicken, and put the chicken on top of the vegetables - still breast side up.
 
13)  Put the lid on the roasting pan and place in the oven.

14)  Roast the chicken at 350F according to the following rule of thumb:  30 minutes per pound and add 15 minutes if there is a substantial stuffing (i.e. the lemons don't count as stuffing).

15)  The chicken should be done when the meat of the inner thigh close to - but not touching - the bone reads 165F.  The stuffing (if applicable) should also read that temperature.  I did not use a thermometer this time because the chicken came with a pop-up timer.  See that little white plastic piece in the picture?  That's the timer.  When it "pops" open, the chicken is done.

16)  Carve and serve.  Use a spoon or ladle to get some of the juices from roasting to drizzle over the meat and vegetables.  I tried to get a pretty picture of the plate of food, but the drumstick fell apart before I got it to the plate.  I left it like that to illustrate how tender this chicken was.

 

Things to do after you've eaten:

1)  Whatever chicken is left, carve and put it away.  This will make life easier when you want to use the leftovers.

2)  Collect the veggies and save them in a separate container, too.

3)  Don't throw out the juices!!!  Instead, strain the juice into another container (to remove the larger chunks of vegetable or chicken from the juice).  Let the juice come to room temperature before putting it in the fridge.  When the juices cool in the fridge, they will solidify and a fat layer will form on the surface.  This is normal.  Just use a spoon to skim off the layer of fat into the trash.  The juice will re-liquify when heated.

I've made several different dishes from the leftovers, and they are still coming.  I will post them, too, to give you some more ideas of what to do with the leftovers.  

Enjoy!