left: Abby's plate, right: Mom & Dad's plate
People ask me all the time if I’m interested in having a third kid. The answer (for now, at least) is: Why would I when a cake mixer has two beaters to lick and a chicken has two drumsticks to serve? (Shouldn’t I take it as some sort of sign that the girls are both crazy about the legs while Andy and I are perfectly content with the breast and thighs?) Anyway — I would say a roast chicken is the recipe I get the most requests for from my friends. One of them — Lori — has even gone so far as saying she feels that being able to roast a chicken should be a requirement of motherhood. If that is the case, then I was not an official mother until I came upon this recipe two years ago. It requires no flipping from breast to back — once it’s in the oven, it’s in. I love that. And the carrots it roasts upon drink up all the chicken fat, which the girls love. They pass on the barley arugula salad I made with it last week, so I just let them have a roll. But as far as I’m concerned, it still counts as One Meal.
Perfect Roast Chicken
6 potatoes (anything but baking potatoes), cut into chunks
3 medium carrots, peeled, cut into chunks
1 whole roasting chicken (organic if you can swing it) about 4 pounds
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, pricked several times with a knife
1 small bunch fresh thyme
Heat oven to 425°F. Arrange potatoes and carrots in a large oven-proof skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, rinse inside and outside of chicken under cold water and pat dry. Rub chicken skin with butter and season with salt and pepper. (If you are so inclined, you can melt the butter and brush it all over the chicken with a pastry brush instead of getting your fingers all icky.) Fill cavity with lemon and thyme. Place chicken breast-side up over roasting vegetables and continue roasting until chicken is a golden brown and juice run clear when thigh is pierced with a fork, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove chicken from the oven, carve, and serve with…
Barley & Arugula Salad
Cook barley according to package directions. Toss with baby arugula and your favorite red- or white-wine based vinaigrette. (I added a little storebought pesto to mine, but you could also just add whatever fresh herb is lying around.) Add shredded Parmesan and toss.
12 responses so far ↓
1 devin // Mar 16, 2010 at 4:24 pm
The barley-arugula salad is inspired. I’m making that tonight.
2 cant cook // Mar 29, 2010 at 10:46 am
cheers for the simple recipe you’ve been very helpful!
3 Amy // Mar 30, 2010 at 7:28 pm
thanks for giving me the courage to roast a chicken .. if i had known it was this easy, i wouldn’t have stalled for 40+ years. it was a hit!
4 jenny // Mar 30, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I’m so glad!!! I resisted it forever too…
5 Hong Kong Phooey // Apr 9, 2010 at 9:46 am
We stole the baked chicken recipe and we now make it every week. The potatoes and carrots are the best part.
6 jenny // Apr 9, 2010 at 9:50 am
TonyHK – you make it or Delia does????
7 mary sullivan // Apr 18, 2010 at 11:34 am
can’t wait to try this roast chicken recipe,I’m going to pass this web site on to family and friends.
8 Jenna // Jun 10, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Thanks for this amazing recipe! I was so impressed with myself! I posted it on my blog and even inspired my friends to try it!!
9 MommyLisa // Jan 14, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Huh – that is WAY simpler than my recipe.
10 shannon // Feb 12, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Thanks for the recipe. I’ve made this roast chicken twice, now. Not only is it much easier than most others I’ve made, but it comes out incredibly juicy! And the vegetables turn out just right, too. One thing that’s confounding me is that skin. Mine doesn’t come out quite as nicely browned as yours looks in the pic. Other than that… perfection.
11 Alex P // Sep 20, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Hi Jenny, I’m making this chicken and I have a dumb question: does it go on the veggies breast side up or down? (I’m not much of a cook!)
12 meg // Oct 13, 2011 at 5:33 pm
In the photo you show it in a casserole but in the directions you say a skillet. Which is better?
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