Roast Chicken with Lemon, Garlic and Thyme

Oh, how I love chicken.

Especially roasted chicken.  It's so moist and flavorful, and you can make awesome chicken stock with the carcass tomorrow.

And then you can put it into your freezer just like I did.  Money saved is money earned.  Or something like that.

PLUS, according to Bobby Flay, chicken stock is the key to Thanksgiving dinner.  Who knew.  And who am I to question an Iron Chef.

To get the chicken ready, you want to wash it first.  And then don't forget to pull out the goody bag (also known as "giblets," though that word makes me gag) from the inside of the chicken.  I've never opened the little goody bag, so I don't even know what's actually in there.  But I don't have to open it to know that it's gross.

I'd would like to know who thought it was a good idea to package the chicken's innards into a nice little package and stuff it back inside the bird.  Because I'm going to sue them.

My mom used to make my brother and I eat chicken liver before she would let us have our drumstick.  Even though I've never checked, I'm pretty sure that liver is one of the surprises inside of the chicken innards goody bag.  She's going to pay for that someday.

Do you see how the chicken leg and thigh is literally falling off of the bird?  All I did was poke in between there with a knife to see if the juices ran clear, and the whole thing fell apart.

That's exactly what should happen.  We're talking tender to the point of ridiculous.


Roast Chicken with Lemon, Garlic and Thyme

4-5 pound chicken, washed and giblets removed

2 lemons, quartered
1 head of garlic, sliced in half

1 onion, cut into eights
1 lb baby carrots
2 T butter

1 T salt
2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 6 sprigs of fresh thyme)


Place the chicken in a large baking dish or roasting pan.  Stuff the lemons and garlic inside of the chicken.  Place the onions and carrots around the chicken.  Brush or pour the butter on top of the bird, pouring any extra butter over the vegetables.  Sprinkle the salt, pepper and thyme over the chicken and the vegetables.

Roast in a 400 degree oven for about an hour and 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.  Stir the vegetables several times while they roast.  You can test the chicken with a thermometer (you want the thickest part of the chicken breast to register 160 degrees as it will continue to cook when you remove it from the oven) or you can cut between the leg and the breast and when the juices run clear and the chicken is fall-apart tender, you're good to go.