One of my favorite things about Sunday night is taking the time to make a big dinner and just spending the evening relaxing. Last night I made roast chicken with lemon and a nice big salad. Making a whole chicken seems intimidating but it is actually really easy! This only needed about 15 minutes of preparation time and then about an hour and a half to cook, once it is in the oven there isn’t anything else you need to do.
Ingredients
1 3 1/2 or 4 pound chicken
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 whole lemons, pricked with a fork
2 tbsp of butter
Salt/Pepper
Directions
Preheat oven 350
Rinse chicken well with cold water, let drain 2-3 minutes in the sink. Pat dry with paper towels and place chicken breast side up on a roasting rack.
Season chicken with salt/pepper, pour lemon juice inside and all around the outside of chicken and rub butter over the outside skin. Place the 2 whole lemons that have been pricked with a fork inside the cavity of the chicken, they may be hard to get in and it is ok if one sticks out a little.
Roast for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, breast side up.
Flip chicken to breast side down and roast for about 20 minutes per pound. About an hour and fifteen minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes before carving, pour pan juices over chicken.
A nice light Pinot Grigio from the Friuli region of Italy was a really good match to the side, it had light citrus notes and the acidity balanced all the lemon very nicely.
The chicken stays super juicy from the lemon and has a nice light flavor, I am going to be eating a lot of chicken this week 
{ 2 comments }
I love roast chicken! I rarely make it because my husband doesn’t like chicken with skin and bone. I have a whole chicken in my freezer….maybe I need to make this!
I love roast chicken! I rarely make it because my husband doesn’t like chicken with skin and bone. I have a whole chicken in my freezer….maybe I need to make this!
Comments on this entry are closed.