Roasting A Chicken

On this super short edition of Cooking With Sharmeela, we are roasting a chicken.  Not only is a roast chicken absolutely delicious, but it's also super easy!  I'll show you how.

Here's what you need:

Butter, salt, pepper, rosemary, lemon and a whole chicken (not pictured because I'm a dumbass).  Take your chicken and remove the giblet packet from the inside.  I like to wash my chicken inside and out, but this is unnecessary.  If you do wash your chicken, it's important to pat it dry with paper towels.  You want a nice, dry bird.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Next, I set my chicken in my roasting pan/dish and make the butter mixture.  I'll tell you right now, this takes some butter and there's no getting around it, so no apologies!  You need between 1/4 to 1/2 a stick of softened butter (don't microwave, just let it sit out awhile).  Put the butter in a bowl with the zest of one lemon (you can use two or three for extra lemon-y goodness), a few rosemary sprigs chopped finely and salt and pepper to taste.  Combine mixture (sorry I forget to take any pictures) and smear it in a thick layer all over the chicken.  Use your hands and really get in all the crevices and even on the inside.  Really go for it!

Then juice the lemon over the top of the bird and put the lemon halves into the cavity (along with more rosemary sprigs).  Then throw it in the oven (okay, don't throw) for anywhere between 1 and 1/4-1 and 1/2 hours.  I like to keep an eye on it after an hour because every oven and every chicken is different.  You want the skin to turn nice and brown, but not burn.

My oven only heats from the bottom and it's hard to get the skin nice and brown without overcooking the chicken, so this is what I settled for.

Not too bad!

Once removed from the oven, let your chicken sit for at least 10-15 minutes before you cut into it.  If you skip this step, all the juice will pour out as soon as you cut it and your chicken will be dry.  Abstain!  Then after 15 minutes, just dig in!  

You can also cut up carrots and potatoes and garlic and roast with the chicken (that's how my mom does it).  Just coat in some butter or olive oil, salt and pepper and place them all around the chicken in a thin layer.  Yummy!

Join me next time when I roast that annoying, barking-at-all-hours dog next door (just kidding!)!