A roast chicken takes only minutes of prep, and then the oven does the rest of the work. Fun History: Steve Friedman wrote about this recipe in a New York Times article. Adapted from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cooking for Guys.
Prep time: 5 Minutes
Cook time: 2 1/2 hours
Serves: 4 - 6
1 whole free range chicken, approximately 4-5 pounds.
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup water
3 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and cut into pieces about 2 inches square
3 onions, peeled and quartered
5 big carrots, peeled and cut into 2” pieces
Preheat the oven to 325. Rinse the chicken under cold running water and pat it dry with paper towels.
In a bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice and chopped garlic. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan or a large casserole dish. Drizzle the chicken all over (even get a little on the inside) with the olive oil mixture. Then sprinkle the chicken inside and out with the Italian seasoning, cumin, and salt and pepper. Pour the water into the pan (not on the chicken, don’t want to wash off the seasoning), and slide the chicken into the hot oven.
Cook for about 2 hours, and then add the potatoes, onions and carrots around the chicken, adding a little more water if the pan is dry. Cook for another hour (the total cooking time will be about a half hour per pound of weight), or until chicken is fully cooked. If you have a meat thermometer, the meat should be 185 in the thigh.
Pull that masterpiece out of the oven, and let it cool for a few minutes, then carve off slices to serve with cooked carrots, onions and potatoes alongside.
Last but not least by any means, save that carcass! Bones, skin etc are the perfect base for homemade chicken stock, which is the foundation of all kinds of other recipes.
Bring out a roast chicken for dinner, serve with your favorite Merlot or Pinot Noir, and everything is right with the world.
Served up by Tod Dimmick
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