Classic Roast Chicken

Hi,

Roast chicken is one of the easiest meals around. The only problem is the cooking time. You can't roll into your apartment at the end of the day and hope to have dinner on the table in 15 minutes. Roasting a chicken takes 1 to 1.5  hours. And if you're starving, 1.5 hours is a long time to wait for dinner.

One idea is you make a roast chicken on the weekends, then you'll have a nice weekend meal and enough chicken for leftovers during the week.

1 frying chicken (3 to 4 pounds)

Remove the packet of stuff from the inside of the chicken. It contains the heart, liver, and other stuff. I admit it, I usually throw them out. Rinse the chicken, if the chicken seems especially dirty and pat dry with paper towels. Place the chicken in a pyrex baking dish. If you have a roasting rack, use it, otherwise you can do without.

Lemon, bay leaves, oregano, garlic (all of these are optional, but a nice addition)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

If you have a lemon you can slice it and place it inside the chicken cavity. You can also put in spices if you have those hanging around. Salt and pepper the inside cavity. Sprinkle the olive oil over the top of the chicken. If you don't mind getting your hands a bit oily, rub the olive oil over the entire chicken, then sprinkle the outside with salt and pepper.

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 to 1.5 hours. The chicken is done when you can wiggle the drumstick and it feels loose. Or take a small knife and check next to the thigh bone, there should be no pink color. If the drumstick joint isn't loose or if you see pink, put the chicken back in for 10 minutes and check again. You can serve the roast chicken with a green salad. Or if you have more time you can make the No Carb Cauliflower and one of the chop chop salads.

I like to, after dinner, take all the chicken off the bone, store it away for lunches and then make chicken stock with the carcass. I'll post the chicken stock recipe another time. Hope you enjoy the roast chicken, it's economical and efficient (if you have enough time.)

Hugs,
Mameekosan.