Had company for dinner tonight and decided to do a roasted chicken.
I was a bit concerned b/c it wasn't fully thawed out when it was time to put
it in the oven, but it turned out fine, and in fact, delicious!
I washed it of course, inside and out. It was about 4.5 lbs.
Then I patted it dry and sprinkled the inside with seasoned salt (Lawry's)
and a pinch of "herbes de provence".
In the cavity I put a few slices of raw carrot and celery. Then I spotted
the last of "last week's" oranges on the counter(I bought more yesterday for
this week)....and thought "what the heck, why not?" and cut it in half,
rubbed it all over the outside of the chicken, squeezing the juice inside
and out. Repeated with the other half, and stuffed that inside the cavity
with the celery and carrot slices.
I sprinkled the outside with more seasoned salt, and topped it with a
liberal sprinkle of herbes de provence.
I always check out what I call the "sorry looking produce" rack in the back
of the store--you know what I mean, the stuff that's just a little bit
overripe, or just a little bruised, but perfectly good otherwise. I usually
find something worth checking out, for pennies. Yesterday, i found a package
of about 18 cipolini onions. I think that's how it's spelled....small,
sweet, flat onions, about the size of a silver dollar, for about 60 cents.
I never had these but they seemed like they would be nice roasted, so I
bought them and placed them, peeled, around the chicken in the pan, along
with the rest of the carrot and the celery pieces.
I sprinkled the veggies with kosher salt, a pinch more on the skin of the
chicken (for crispness) and put it in the oven for 90 minutes at 400 F.
The skin was all crisp...the leg fell apart but the breast meat was still
moist and tender, with just a hint of orange flavor. The roasted onions and
carrots were a wonderful garnish, and lent a terrific flavor to the
pan-drippings, which I turned into gravy. The gravy was a rich brown color,
thanks to all the caramelized stuff on the bottom of the pan.
There's nothing left!!!!
Between my friends and me, and Mandy, and sending leftovers home for my
friend's cat....there's nothing but gravy left!
We had Stove Top stuffing (dressed up with nuts and dried
cranberries....yeah, I know, but we all really like Stove Top stuffing!!!)
and fresh green beans that were lightly steamed and buttered.
'
It was really a delicious meal.