Garlic & Herb Roasted Chicken

Today, I had dinner at my ex-boss' house. It was a pot-luck themed dinner (where I brought in some dishes I made at home) even though it was just Lake (my ex-boss), Jeff (my boyfriend), and me eating. A really small get-together with a lot of food..... works for me! :)

The items I brought was: whole roasted chicken and scallion pancakes (recipe previously blogged here: http://jensconcoctions.blogspot.com/2008/06/scallion-pancakesgreen-onion-pancake.html).

Everyone loved the chicken, and Lake made sure she kept some of the chicken for lunch tomorrow!

I loved Lake's russian dish of tomato beef. I shall try out her recipe soon, and blog about afterward. So check back soon, for that recipe!


NOTE: this dish is a 2-day dish, so don't intend on making this on a work night! Save it for a weekend activity or romantic date night.


Garlic & Herb Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken (about 3-4 pounds)
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp of any of your favorite dried herbs. I used basil.
- 1 tbsp of any of your favorite fresh herbs. I used finely minced parsely!
- 1.5 tbsp of salt-free garlic & herb powder
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 3 cloves of whole garlic, punctured.

Instructions:

DAY ONE:
1. Wash your chicken and remove the giblets. Pat dry your chicken with a paper towel. Dry the inside cavity of your chicken by stuffing a paper towel inside.

2. Using your fingers and a knife, carefully seperate the skin from the chicken, starting for the breast meat down to the legs. Make sure you do not puncture any holes through the skin. Use the knife to cut away the connective membrane.

3. In a bowl, mix together the salt, herbs, and garlic powder. Reserve 1/5 of the mixture aside.

4. Using your hands, evenly spread the herb mixture underneath the skin across the whole chicken, massaging the herbs into the meat.

5. Using the reserved mixture, dump the herb mixture into the cavity of the chicken and rub the herbs into the inside of the chicken. Drop the garlic cloves into the cavity.

6. Your hands should have excess herbs and salt stuck on it. Use it to wipe the excess herbs onto the outer skin of the chicken.
=) nothing goes to waste when I'm cooking!
















7. Set your chicken into the fridge, and let it marinate overnight or for at least 6 hours. The salt also helps soften the chicken meat.


DAY TWO:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Drizzle and rub the olive oil onto both sides of your chicken.

2. Place your chicken, breast side down, on a roasting rack, with a roasting pan underneath to catch all the juices. The chicken is breast side down, so as the chicken roasts, all the juices will drip down into the breast, softening the breast meat.














3. Place your chicken into the often, for 20 minutes.

4. At the 20 minute mark, turn the oven down to 335 degrees F and roast for 40 minutes (you can use either 325 or 350 degrees, if your chicken is smaller or larger than mine).

5. At the 1 hour mark, turn the chicken over to brown the breast meat.

6. Roast for an additional 30-35 minutes. Puncture the thickest part of the meat (I check the thigh meat), to make sure the juices run clear.

7. Let the chicken sit for 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute. Isn't that beautiful?














Size of Jeff's head!













8. Serve the meat, and reserve the bones and carcass to make brothy soup! The bones should already be tasty enough to give the soup a lot of flavor and seasoning.
See. Nothing goes to waste when I'm cooking!

The pot-luck for 3 came out wonderful!
We also enjoyed red wine during our meal, and Cheesecake factory cheesecake for dessert.