Roast Chicken

From Martha Steward video, originally a recipe of Norma Darden of Miss Mamie's Spoonbread. (Use two-and-a-half-to-three-pound chickens)

• Ready In: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 3  sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3  garlic cloves
• 2  tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1  lemon, halved crosswise
• 2  roasting chickens, rinsed and patted dry
• 2  stalks celery, cut in half crosswise
• 1  small onion, quartered
•  salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1  cup dry white wine, plus more if needed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375° .
2. Finely chop the leaves of one sprig rosemary and one clove garlic.
3. In a small bowl, combine mustard, chopped rosemary, and chopped garlic; set aside.
4. Rub each chicken inside and out with half a lemon. Place a lemon half in each cavity.
5. Add to the cavity of each chicken a stalk of celery, two onion quarters, a sprig of rosemary, and a clove of garlic.
6. Rub chickens all over with mustard mixture, and season with salt and pepper.
7. Place on a rack in a large roasting pan.
8. Sprinkle all over with wine. Pour remaining wine into roasting pan.
9. Bake, basting about every 15 minutes, until juices run clear, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours.
10. Add water or wine as additional basting juices are needed.
11. Remove from oven, transfer chickens to a platter, and let stand 10 minutes.
12. Meanwhile, remove rack from roasting pan and place pan on top of stove over medium heat.
13. Cook until liquid is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Pour reduced liquid over chickens, or serve on the side.