roast chicken

Having just survived a record-breaking heat wave in Portland, I cannot imagine turning my oven on, and I miss the cool late winter days of roasted chicken.


Here is how I like to make mine:

1) Get a beautiful whole chicken at the grocery store. Cradle it in your arms like a tiny sleeping child and murmur reassurances to it, like "Soon you will be in my belly."

2) Clean your chicken, pat it dry, preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Rub with lemon and herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley), salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken with rest of lemon and herbs. Garlic is also a good idea, and I like to roast whole heads alongside my chicken.


3) Pour some water, stock, wine, or other liquiddelicious in the bottom of the pan. This jar is full of chicken stock saved from the last roast chicken. One of the small things I like about roasted chicken: it can feed you for days, perhaps weeks.


4) Put that chicken in the oven, probably for about an hour and a half. Spoon liquid over the chicken at various intervals, adding more liquid to the bottom of the pan if necessary. Check temperature by poking the chicken in the leg with a meat thermometer. When it's done, let it rest for at least ten minutes.


5) Eat with fingers.