Basic Roast Chicken
photo by dividend
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 4
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 4 1⁄2 lbs whole chickens, without giblets
- kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
directions
- Place your roasting pan in the oven, and preheat to 425 degrees.
- Wash the chicken inside and out with cold water. Pat it as dry as possible with paper towels.
- With a sharp knife, make 3 or 4 slashes across each of the thighs.
- Rub the entire chicken, including the interior cavity, with olive oil, and then with salt and pepper.
- Carefully separate the skin of the breast from the meat, and work some olive oil, salt, and pepper into the gaps with your hand.
- Tuck the wings up under the back of the chicken. Cross the legs, and tie it up as tightly as possible with kitchen twine.
- Pull the hot tray out of the oven, and place the chicken on it breast side down. Return to the oven and cook for 5 minutes.
- Turn the chicken over onto the other breast, and cook another 5 minutes.
- Turn the chicken on it's back, and cook for 1 hour.
- Let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I'm a programmer by day, bread baker by night. To make a living, I do process automation for management at an inbound call center. (It's really not as exciting as it sounds.) Actually, I enjoy my job. There are worse things I could be doing to finance my cooking / baking habits.
I never really knew how to cook growing up. Some of you in the Breads and Baking forum have heard my disastrous story about making Nestle Toll House cookies...
When I went to college and moved out of the dorms, I started to become interested in actually learning how to cook. I had a lactose intolerant boyfriend, and a limited budget, so it made sense to stop eating take-out pizza and Taco Bell every day. I have to credit The Dairy Free Cookbook by Jane Zukin as my first real guide. (I still cook out of it , even though the boyfriend is long gone!)
With that as a start, I set about systematically teaching myself how to cook.
Five years later, I'm getting a reputation from friends and family as being a good cook. I love baking bread from scratch (I could really become a sourdough freak - thanks Donna!) - I can't seem to make enough cinnamon raisin swirl to keep my mom and grandmother happy. I'm enjoying getting back to eating seasonally, eschewing over - processed prepared food in favor of simpler, healthier, better tasting, cheaper meals I make myself. When I set out to learn, I never imagined I'd be making stock, roasting whole chickens, baking bread, or shopping at our local farmer's market. Now I can't imagine going back to the way I used to eat.
I hope someday to learn enough about bread baking to open a local bakery/cafe, somewhere in Westport or Downtown Kansas City. I love my city, and the kind of place I have in mind will be a place that gives back to the community. I want to leave this city a better place for my having been here.
Here's my standard metric for how I review recipes here, because I want my reviews to be helpful and consistent:
***** Fantastic as is. Wouldn't change a thing and will make it often.
0**** Fantastic tweaked a little to suit my tastes. Will make it often.
00*** Had to tweak it alot to get something I would make again.
000** Not very good. May try tweaking it again at some point.
0000* Not good. Probably won't try making again, even with tweaks.
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