Roast Chicken

I wanted to roast chicken, being that it was a Sunday afternoon.


I had a 6.5 lb chicken, that I wanted to do a nice herb-lemon.  I searched on AllRecipes, and found two that I blended together:

Ingredients

• 1 (3 1/2) pound broiler-fryer chicken
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt-free lemon-pepper seasoning (I didn't have this...)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 medium lemon, halved
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs

Directions

1. Loosen skin around chicken breast, leg and thigh. Combine the seasonings; rub half under skin. Cut half of the lemon into quarters and place in the cavity along with rosemary sprigs. Skewer openings; tie drumsticks together with kitchen string.
2. Place chicken breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Squeeze the remaining lemon over chicken; rub with remaining spice mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees F for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until chicken juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees F (cover loosely with foil if browning too quickly). Cover and let stand for 15 minutes. (Discard lemon and herbs from cavity before carving.)

I also poured about 1/4 cup of wine and 1/4 cup of chicken stock in the bottom of the pan. I also added cut potatoes and baby carrots. I forgot to coat in olive oil, S&P- next time. Also, leave out the baby carrots, they shriveled up into burnt sticks.

PS- I don't have kitchen twine, so I used some skewers... we shall see if it is as moist as I was hoping! Since I have a 6.5 lb chicken, I put it in at 375 on convection. It's only been 20 minutes, so I'll check on it in an hour and turn it, as the convection cooks one side much faster than the other....



...In the end, the bird turned out perfectly. The little built-in thermometer popped up around 2 hours and 15 minutes on convection, and a few turns later. IT WAS AWESOME. It was super moist and flavorful. 


I made a nice pan sauce, just added a little more stock and some flour and scrapped the pan!


Too bad JW and I weren't hungry after eating some homemade guacamole, but we ate it for lunch and dinner the next day. I even made Chicken Cesar Salads from it too. It's going to last all week.