It is as easy as they've been claiming all these years - just whip up some stuffing, toss a few ingredients on the bird's skin, pop it in the oven for a while and presto! an impressive meal fit for a small dinner party!
I'll start with the basics of prepping a whole chicken for the oven.
The first thing you want to do is make some stuffing, and though the commercials try to claim otherwise, the best stuffing is homemade. Plus it's ridiculously versatile - you can toss various ingredients in depending on what you have lying around. My stuffing consisted of white bread broken into small chunks, diced onions and celery, chopped apples and raisins, but you can also add chestnuts, dried cranberries, fennel...the options are endless, really. I also added Italian herb mix, sage and rosemary to enhance the taste.
Then it was time to prep the chicken itself. In a clean sink I sprinkled some salt on its skin, let that sit for a moment, then rinsed it throughly and patted it dry. Then the bird was plopped into a roasting pan and stuffed. After the stuffing, a generous amount of lemon juice was squeezed over the chicken, followed by salt, pepper, Italian herb mix, sage and rosemary, all of which were rubbed into the skin to facilitate full flavour transfer.
At this point, the chicken was ready to go into its oven, preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, a task I completed with much enthusiasm (excuse my appearance, I'd been in the kitchen all day):
While the bird was roasting (and being basted every 20 mins or so), I whipped up an equally delicious side dish that shared the oven quite nicely - sweet potato and plain potato fries. These I cut into rough fry-shapes, tossed in oil, curry powder and a hint of chili powder, tossed on a baking sheet and stuck in with the chicken.
The result, served with a dipping sauce made of cream cheese, dijon mustard and lemon juice:
Now, to go with the potatoes, and after about an hour and a half in the oven (about 20mins of that was spent with it set on high broiler to fully brown the skin), the chicken was ready to emerge:
It completed the picture for a lovely, foodfull table and an equally appetizing plate:
Absolutely delicious!
I also learned how to carve the beast from my father, a much easier task than I imagined:
All in all the meal was a great success - the little bit of extra lemon I squeezed onto the chicken created a pleasantly fresh taste that cut the grease of the bird a bit, and that dipping sauce I whipped up off the top of my head was great with both the potatoes and the asparagus. Now I feel like a real cook!
Here are the recipes written out for those of you who feel like adding roast chicken to your repertoire:
Stuffing for a Small Chicken:
-1/2 a small loaf of bread (of your choice), broken into small chunks
-1/2 a small onion, diced
-About 1 c. celery, diced
-1/4 c. raisins
-1 to 1 1/2 c. apple, cut into small pieces
-Sage, Italian herb mixture, rosemary, tarragon to taste
-Salt and pepper to taste
Chicken Rub/Marinade:
-1/2 a large lemon
-Sage, Italian herb mixture, rosemary, tarragon to taste
-Salt and pepper to taste (I recommend a coarser salt like Fleur de Sel)
Mixed Potato Fries:
-2 small potatoes, cut into rough wedges/sticks
-1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes, cut into rough wedges/sticks
-2 to 3 tbsp. olive oil
-Chili powder and curry powder to taste
All-Purpose Dip:
-1 c. cream cheese or sour cream or plain yogurt
-1/4 c. dijon mustard
-3 tbsp. coarse (full seed) mustard
-lemon juice to taste
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