Isn't She Lovely!! My Roasted Chicken

You've seen her on facebook, pinterest, and twitter! And some of you have even seen her attached to text messages! But you can only get the scoop on her, right here! Ladies and gentleman, please welcome...............................................................my roasted chicken!!!!!! (applause, applause)

A friend of mine has been asking me about my roasted chicken since I showed her a picture of it. So I dedicate this to my dear friend EP aka A.A.

Before we dive in, just a few notes about purchasing a chicken. I'm quite particular about the quality of the food that I buy, especially poultry. Nowadays you see all kinds of labels such as "natural" and "hormone free" in order to describe the quality of the chicken. Some of these labels, however, do not mean much. Here's an excellent article that breaks down all this label mumbo jumbo: Supermarket Guide to Buying Chicken

I write(say) all that to advise you to be sure you know what you are putting into your body. It is your temple, and you only get one.

Well, let's get started!

1 3-4 lb. chicken
olive oil
1 Tsp. salt
1 Tsp. pepper
1 Tsp paprika 
20-25 stems of thyme
1 Tsp. nutmeg
5 stems of rosemary
9 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 1/4 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash chicken thoroughly. Remove any excess fat or skin from the neck and bottom.

(Before washing)

(After washing and cutting away excess fat and skin)

Prepare your shallots and garlic by cutting them length-wise. Only cut 5 of the garlic cloves and one of the shallots.

The garlic should look like little chips. Place them in a cast iron skillet with 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil.

Add the shallots and let them start to brown slowly (keep the heat on a very low temperature so they do not brown to quickly while you finish preparing).

Now let's move back to our chicken! 

Grab 3 stems of rosemary and 7-8 stems of thyme and stick them inside the chicken.Take the remaining shallot (cut into three to four large length-wise pieces) and the four cloves of garlic (not cut) and stuff them in side the chicken as well.

Wash your hands! And turn up the temperature on the garlic and shallots slightly so they can start to brown a little more. Now let's season the outside of the chicken.

Put the salt, paprika, pepper and nutmeg on the chicken. Then pull the leaves off of the remaining thyme stems.










Pull the needles off of 2 rosemary stems and place on top of the chicken.

 Pour 1/4 cup of olive oil over the chicken.

Time to get a little messy! Use your hands to rub the spices into the chicken. Make sure you rub under the skin of the chicken as well. And make sure everything is coated. 









Use some tongs to lift your chicken (one of the tong arms should be on the inside of the chicken) and place in the skillet.

Sear both sides of the chicken on medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side. The skin of the chicken should be slightly brown. The purpose of this is to lock in some of the flavors. 

 This is what one seared side should look like.

After you have seared both sides, pour the chicken broth in the skillet and transfer this little lady into the oven.

 Let her hang out in the oven for an hour.

MEANWHILE, take sometime to clean up your prep areas.

After an hour, take the chicken out and baste the chicken with some of the broth that the chicken has cooked in for the past hour. Put it back in the oven for an additional 35 minutes.

And there she is! She's finished! 

Let her rest for at least 20 minutes before you dig in and don't be afraid to use the broth in the bottom of the pan. I like to put it over Brown Rice.

Try to resist the temptation to play Stevie Wonder "Isn't She Lovely" when it comes out the oven.