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Whole Roasted Chicken

Source of Recipe

From "Cook with Me" by Alex Guarnaschelli


Recipe Introduction

"I used to roast chicken in a fancier way, stuffing the cavity with exotic herbs and wedges of lemon and carefully nestling it into a gleaming, heavy-bottomed roasting pan�like how Beyoncé gets into a Bentley. The results were always great, but what I discovered over time is that love simplicity when it comes to chicken. I can now guarantee you that four everyday ingredients�chicken, salt, pepper, and lemon�never tasted so good together. My favorite way to roast a chicken is to use a sheet pan or shallow roasting pan with a wire rack set inside to allow for maximum exposure and browning of the chicken skin (let's face it: we all want that chicken skin). One night, I roasted a chicken for my daughter and we ate about half of it for dinner. I put the other half in the fridge. When I came back later, I discovered my daughter had snuck back in and peeled away the crispy sheet of skin on the other half as a snack. Who can blame her? I often make chicken salad from whatever chilled leftovers we have the next day and save the carcass in a resealable bag in the freezer for making stock."

List of Ingredients

◦ 1 (3- to 3 �-pound) whole chicken
◦ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
◦ 1 large lemon, cut into wedges



Recipe

Preheat the oven to 450� F. Set a wire rack in a shallow roasting pan or on top of a sheet pan. Place the chicken, breast-side up, in the center of the rack. Season the chicken generously all over with salt and pepper.

Roast the chicken until it is browned and juicy, about 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375� F and roast until the juices at the leg/thigh joint run clear or a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165� F, 25 to 30 minutes more. (I count 12 to 15 minutes per pound of bird; for a 3 �-pound bird, I start checking the juices and temperature after 40 to 50 minutes of cooking, since some chickens cook faster than others.) Remove the pan from the oven and set the chicken aside to rest for 10 minutes.

Remove the bird from the pan and place it breast-side down on a cutting board. Let it rest for an additional 10 to 15 minutes so the juices can flow into the breast meat. Then turn the chicken breast-side up and carve it. As you cut the breast and thigh meat, season the meat directly with salt and pepper to deepen the flavor. Transfer the meat to a serving platter. Pour the drippings from the pan over the meat. Serve with the lemon wedges.

Serves 4 to 6