PERFECT ROASTED CHICKEN WITH ROOT VEGETABLES
Author: Clean Team
Recipe type: Lunch
Serves: 4-6
One of our favorite fall and winter meals is a local, pastured chicken roasted with some veggies. Nourishing comfort food at its best. You can use the bones for making a soup broth. 2 meals in one!
Ingredients
- 1 4-to-5 pound pastured whole chicken
- Fresh sage
- Fresh rosemary
- Fresh thyme
- 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 lemon, coarsely chopped
- Veggies of your choice: carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, onions, beets, squash, leeks - whatever veggies you like. Root vegetables will probably withstand the roasting process better. Use enough veggies to cover the bottom of a roasting pan.
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475F.
- Two hours before roasting, remove chicken from the refrigerator to bring to room temperature. Remove any organs from the cavity. Rinse chicken and pat inside and out really dry. Generously season inside the cavity with salt and pepper. Fill cavity with onion, lemon, and a few sprigs of herbs.
- Chop veggies into large chunks. Toss them with 2-3 Tbls. olive oil plus salt and pepper. Spread in a large roasting pan.
- Slip hand under the skin of the chicken over the breasts (and legs if you can wiggle your hand in without ripping the skin). Place several sprigs of sage, rosemary and thyme under the skin. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the chicken, rubbing all over the skin. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Nestle chicken into the center of the vegetables. Roast for about 1 hour, or until the chicken is golden brown, and the juices run clear.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before carving.