Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Chicken

Happy Sunday Morning everyone! I love it when the Good Lord sees fit to bless me with another day. It’s important to remember to count your blessings, big and small. Just waking up in the morning is a blessing all its own.

Doesn’t that chicken look yummy! I gotta tell you, this was the most beautiful roasted chicken I have ever made. The skin was perfectly crisp, the meat so moist and tender. While I do think the recipe was great, I honestly believe the biggest difference was that the bird was cooked on a rack tucked inside a baking pan, completely exposed to the warm air in the oven. Surprisingly enough, our big, fat hen was gobbled up in one sitting. Yeah, this bird made for a great Sunday Supper.

Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Chicken
4 or 5 lb Chicken Roaster, preferably Organic or Free Range
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1 Lemon
2 tablespoons Italian Parsley
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 head of Garlic
3 fresh whole Rosemary sprigs
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/4 cup White Wine
Salt, to taste
Ground Pepper, to taste

One hour prior to cooking, remove chicken from refrigerator. Remove giblets and neck from cavity. Let bird rest on the counter to reach room temperature.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking tray with foil, or lightly grease a roasting pan. Set aside.

Rinse chicken (including cavity) under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Set chicken in the prepared pan.

Melt butter in the microwave. Allow butter to cool to room temperature.

Cut lemon in half, set aside. Finely chop parsley, set aside. Peel and mince 4 garlic cloves, set aside.

Roughly peel one whole head of garlic, then cut in half horizontally through the middle crosswise. Set aside.

Pour the olive oil, melted butter, wine and the juice of half a lemon over the chicken, under the skin and inside the cavity. Season chicken liberally on the outside and inside the cavity with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the parsley.

Rub the minced garlic over the chicken, mixing all ingredients together over the chicken and under the skin.

Stuff the garlic head into the chicken cavity along with the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halve. Tie legs together with kitchen string.

Place breast-side up on a rack in baking tray or shallow roasting pan. Roast for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, shut the door to maintain the temperature. Baste the chicken, then turn bird over, back-side up. If the pan drippings are a little light, add about 1/4 cup of chicken broth or stock to the bottom of the pan. Return the bird to the oven  and continue to roast for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven one last time. Baste again, turn the bird breast-side up then broil for a further 2-3 minutes, for that final golden crispness.

Remove from the oven, tent with foil and allow to stand for 10 minutes before carving. Place carved bird on a serving platter drizzled with pan juices. Serve and enjoy.

A nice rice pilaf or a wild rice dish goes beautifully with this golden bird.

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