For some reason, roast chicken always seems to impress people. I must say, the bird does look pretty good when it comes out of the oven, but the best part is that you don't have to do much to make it look that way! I like to roast my chickens with some veggies in the bottom of the pan. Nothing too crazy, just some carrots, celery, onion and some garlic. I personally can't be bothered to peel carrots. I think it is a waste of time and flavour. Just give the carrots a good scrub and then the carrots will have more integrity when you roast them (this means they won't turn into mush).
Chicken
1 - 1.5kg Chicken
1 Carrot
2 Celery Sticks
1 Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Mustard (preferably Dijon or Grainy)
1 Lemon
Stuffing
1 Cup Fresh/Stale Bread Cubes
1/2 Cup Mushrooms
Rosemary
Butter
Preheat the oven to 425 F
I give all the veggies a rough chop and throw them into a roasting pan with a good coating of olive oil and then some salt and pepper.
Then I started making my stuffing. I just ripped up a couple pieces of bread ad tossed them into a bowl with some salt, pepper, lemon juice and some sauted mushrooms. I deglazed my mushroom pan with some white wine to add some liquid to the stuffing, but you could use chicken stock or water or beer here too.
Then just stuff it in the bird. I like to season the indie of the cavity with a bit of salt and pepper before putting the stuffing in but you don't have to. I also save half of a lemon (the one that I used for the juice in the stuffing) to close off the cavity. I would have been smart of me to take a picture of that, but I didn't. You can just barely see the lemon in the picture below. I put it so the rind is on the outside of the bird. This is also not entirely necessary, but I think it adds good flavour and you would just throw that lemon out otherwise.
Then I season the outside of the bird with a bit of mustard, salt, pepper and tarragon. Then set it right on top of all the veggies.
Place in the oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes or about and hour per kg un-stuffed and a bit longer when the bird is stuffed.
Turn the heat down to 350 F as soon as the chicken goes in the oven. The high heat initially will help give your chicken that golden brown color and the lower temperature will finish the cooking.
After it's been in the oven for a while and you want to check to make sure it is done, pull it out of the oven and cut into the leg joint (it should just be a thin layer of skin you cut through, no meat). In the fist picture, the area that is not brown between the beast and leg is where you will cut. You will be able to tell that it's done if the juice that comes out of that joint is clear. If it's pink, your chicken isn't done. However, don't plan on checking it too many times - remember, you only have two legs on your chicken (I hope anyways).
