Roast Chicken and Veg

Buying chicken whole is a much better deal then buying assorted bits. Not only do you get a couple awesome meals out of it, you can use the leftover bones and chewy bits to make a nice stock.

• 1 chicken. Mine was a 4.5lb
• Assorted root vegetables. These can be carrots, rutabaga, potato, celeriac, beets, parsnips.. You have so many options. Just choose your favorites.
• a bundle of fresh herbs. Thyme, oregano, basil, and tarragon are all good choices.
• 1 lemon
• Butter and olive oil.

Make sure your chicken isn't frozen, and take it out of the fridge an hour or so before you're ready to start cooking. Turn your oven up to 475.

Chop up your veggies. I prefer mine to be pretty big, so I don't take very long doing this. I put them all in the roasting pan, and drizzle some olive oil over them all. I also threw in a bit of dried rosemary.

Take your lemon, poke it full of holes, and shove it into the chicken's cavity. I also put the bundle of herbs in around the lemon, and a pat of butter.

Nestle your chicken into your bed of vegetables, and rub its skin all over with olive oil. I shook some pepper on top of that to give it a bit of zing.

Pop it in the oven, and immediatly turn it down to 400. Let it cook for about 20 min per pound. Every 40 min or so, I took it out quickly just to brush some of the juices onto the skin. You'll know it's done when you can cut the meat deeply with a knife, and all the juices run clear.

Make sure you save your drippings! You can use them immediatly to make gravy, or you can do what I did and pop it in the fridge. It's great in soups, and the fat that rises to the top is awesome for frying up the leftover veggies tomorrow morning for breakfast.