Roast Chicken

You're going to want to take off your jewelry for this one. 

It's a recent development that I've found I enjoy getting my hands dirty. Building, digging, painting...there's a meditative quality to it. And you don't really appreciate the work put into a wooden park sign until you've made one yourself, or the careful eye and patience required to cultivate a superb vegetable garden. 

Naturally, I apply this to cooking as well. I feel this deep appreciation for meals I know has been  laboriously crafted with loving hands. It creates this special connection. I think oftentimes it's a simpler recipe where this quality shines through the most, but that's really just a personal thing. So....if you feel like getting your hands dirty, stick with me.

I've been making roast chicken with my mom since I was little, but I always made her do the gross parts. But I'm an adult in the kitchen now, and I sort of consider this a rite of passage.

Carefully unwrapping the bird in the sink, I note that it's kinda...juicy. And slimy. I stare at the chicken, somehow feeling like it's staring back. Sigh. Gotta get that bag of creepy bits out of the inside somehow. I tug at the plastic insistently, but it just won't budge. My mom made this look so easy! Why...won't....it...move? Oh...hehe. Wrong side. There we go!

If you're feeling brave, which by this point you should be, go ahead and reach under the skin and rub some herbs down there. Being one who does not eat chicken skin, it's a must for me to get that flavor infused into the meat.

Now, sit back, and admire your handiwork. Beautiful, no? Best chicken you ever tasted? Pretty much.

I was so hungry at this point I forgot to take an end picture. It was good chicken. 

Roast Chicken

from the ever reliable Magic Spoon Cookbook

Ingredients

1 large roasting chicken (the size is up to you really. It depends how many people are eating.

3 carrots, cut into discs

3 stalks celery, cut into pieces

1 large onion, cut into eighths

1/2 to 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp dried sage

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp dried thyme

1 Tbsp dried parsley

Preheat the oven to 425 F and prepare a large roasting pan.

Rinse out your chicken and remove the inside bag thing. Do with it what you will (I threw it away). Mix all the herbs and spices in a small bowl. Place the chicken in the roasting pan, and squeeze lemon juice over the bird. Take at least a tablespoon of the herb mixture and sprinkle it over the skin of the chicken. If you have a big bird, feel free to use it all, otherwise just save the extra for another time. If you'd like, gently lift the skin and rub herbs into it. Scatter the vegetables around it, and pop it into the oven for at least an hour, or until a thermometer in the thigh reads about 180 F. Halfway through, baste the chicken with its juices (or add some water to the pan if it's looking dry). Enjoy!