Super easy roasted chicken
20 Nov
I’ve never had to make a turkey before, so I thought I’d act like a real grown up and roast a turkey for the very first time.
My brilliant plan – to roast a turkey for a potluck I was hosting last weekend.
Reality:
1. Look up every possible turkey recipe. Figure out what to do, what to avoid, what I need to purchase.
2. Talk about it to anyone and everyone who would listen. Listen closely for tips.
3. Thursday rolls around and upon realizing that I didn’t have time/room/bucket big enough to brine/(insert excuse here), I chickened out.
So that’s why this post is about chicken, and not turkey. Sorry about that, folks.
If you want a really yummy chicken, it’s important to buy a good, quality chicken. Free range or organic would be a great investment. I ended up with a freshly killed chicken, which tasted amazing, but with a couple of unexpected, well, surprises. Read below to find out.
I will just walk you through this recipe. It’s really easy! All you need is chicken, paper towels, roasting pan, garlic salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano.
I preheated my oven to 400. Then took chicken out of wrapper. Looks harmless, right? I ran it under cold water, though cooking it will kill all the germs.
Following that, I took out the insides.
Then I saw it. Almost screamed.
Waiting to surprise me, inside the cavity, was the head!!!!!! And on the other end, both feet. Tucked in there, all nice and tidy. And since there were three chickens, I had to cut 3 heads. And 3 pairs of feet. I sliced those suckers off while looking away, but it took a good knife and a few minutes. Don’t worry; I spared you the photos. Moving on!
I rinsed out the inside cavity and was careful in dabbing with paper towels, because wet chicken would yield a non-crispy skin.
At this point, I generously covered the entire chicken with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. Every square inch!
This was tough to do but I trussed the chicken by making sure that the strings held the chicken legs and breast in place. Taking photos of it while trying not to spread the uncooked chicken germs, along with using a scissor, was quite a challenge. Basically, all you have to do is tie the legs and the breast together so that you can keep the chicken close to its body for even cooking.
Threw it in the oven for 2.5 hours at 400 F. Each chicken weighed about 5 pounds. Cooking time might depend on the size of your chicken.
After taking the chicken out of the oven, I added dried thyme and dried oregano into a bowl, then ladled the juices into the bowl. I mixed those together, then basted the chicken. I did this a few times by going back and forth between the pan and the bowl.
Then I cut off the strings with scissor and discarded it. I left it to rest, with tented foil, for 15 minutes before carving. This gave the chicken a chance to become even more moist.
Then the guests arrived! It also means that I got too excited about them that I forgot to take pictures of the carved bird. We stuffed our faces, and had way too many leftovers, especially pies! YUM!! =)
