AO’s Roast Chicken
Cozy, delicious, and easy—AO’s go-to roast chicken will become a staple in no time.
INGREDIENTS:
1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika
1 handful fresh thyme
1 handful fresh rosemary
1 handful parsley
1 lemon, quartered
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
1 large yellow onion, quartered
4-6 carrots cut into 1-inch chunks
Fingerling potatoes (or red new potatoes or russet potatoes, quartered.)
Olive oil
Kitchen twine
Roasting pan
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the chicken giblets (the stuff inside). Rub the chicken with coarse Kosher salt and then wash the chicken with cold water inside and out. Pat the outside dry with paper towels until it is really dry (some recipes call for coating the chicken in olive oil or butter, I like it dry because the drier the chicken the crispier the skin). Liberally salt and pepper the outside and inside of the chicken. Rub paprika on the outside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, rosemary, parsley, two-quarters of lemon, 4 pieces of unpeeled garlic or half of the head (if you cut a head of garlic), and 1-2 quarters of the onion.
Tie the legs together with the kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.
In a separate bowl, mix the potatoes, carrots, a few pieces of rosemary off the stem, the remaining lemon, the remaining onion, and 1 or 2 pieces of garlic with enough olive oil to coat, salt, and pepper. You can add a little paprika here too. Toss until evenly coated. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken in the middle. Don't crowd the pan, but don't leave open spaces!
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Make sure the potatoes and carrots are fork-tender. They should get a nice sauce that caramelizes the lemon juice, onions, garlic, and chicken fat. It's really yummy :)