What's on the Menu? Oven Roasted Chicken
Looking for a crowd-pleaser for dinner? Oven roasted chicken is the answer and it’s quite easy to prepare. Your active preparation time is roughly fifteen minutes. Then, the rest is up to your oven. It will take a couple hours depending on the size of the chicken. While your chicken is being roasted, you have the free time to do other things. I spend my time taking a walk around the neighborhood, working in the yard, or helping the kids with their school work.
Ingredients:
Whole chicken
Olive oil, salt, and black pepper
Few sprigs of rosemary and thyme, a half lemon, few garlic cloves, small onion
Optional: Herbs de Provence
For side dish: root or hearty vegetables of choice (e.g. carrots, turnips, potatoes, butternut squash, etc.)
Direction:
Pre-heat oven to 400’F.
Wash and clean 5-6 lb Chicken (a good size for a family of 4; I recommend bigger size for bigger crowd).
Rub olive oil on chicken.
Sprinkle salt and black pepper all over chicken.
Optional: sprinkle herbs de Provence on chicken.
Stuff chicken cavity with sprigs of rosemary and thyme, 2 slices of lemon, a few garlic cloves, and sliced small onions.
Start roasting chicken in oven.
While chicken is in oven, prepare the vegetables and potatoes for side dish. I like to roast carrots, red onions, potatoes or butternut squash to serve with the chicken.
After the chicken is roasting for 1 hour, add the vegetables and potatoes to the same pan. Toss the vegetables and potatoes in olive oil, salt and black pepper. Cook until chicken is done. Vegetables cook time is 45 min to 1 hr or until tender.
Total cook time is about 2 hours for 5-6 lb chicken (please be sure to check internal temperature of chicken with thermometer for accuracy).
Carve chicken and serve with side dish. Pair it with white wine or light red wine, such as Pinot Noir. In the summer months, serve chicken with salad and pair it with crisp white wine or Rosé wine.
