Roast Chicken from Dinner: A Love Story

I first started reading Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach years ago.  I was on a Tallahassee field trip with my 5th graders, and I used the time on the long bus ride to read and catch up on magazines.  I found a small article about the website in a magazine and later found it online.  The premise of Dinner: A Love Story is to help people put a nice dinner on the table.  She eventually put the recipes into a book titled, Dinner: A Love Story.  Jenny is a writer who also works part-time editing and writing for magazines and blogs.  Andy, her husband, helped with dinner half of the time when Jenny first worked away from home.  From 2011-2017, they wrote a column for Bon Appetit called "The Providers" about feeding your family.  Jenny has written two other books, Dinner: The Playbook: A 30-day Plan for Mastering the Art of the Family Meal and How to Celebrate Everything:  Recipes and Rituals for Birthdays, Holidays, Family Dinners, and Every Day In Between.

Dinner: A Love Story is broken down into three sections.  In Part 1 (1998-2001), Jenny and Andy were newlyweds and taught each other how to cook.  They share recipes and lots of great tips.  In Part 2 (2002-2006), they share all of their recipes and tips during the time they were new parents.  Part 3 (2006-Present) is the Family Dinner section, as their children became older.  This is the section I used to make their Roast Chicken recipe.  This recipe is so simple.  Do not be afraid to roast your own chicken.  It is so much better than anything you pick up at your deli.  Believe me, I am all about convenience.  But if you have a little time on a Sunday afternoon, just try it!

Roast Chicken (Total time:  1 hour 40 minutes):

Ingredients:

• 6 potatoes (Yukon Gold or red), cut into chunks (I used organic russet potatoes.)
• 1 small onion, chopped into chunks (I used 2 organic onions.)
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks (I used 5 organic carrots.)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 whole roasting chicken, about 4 pounds (I bought an organic chicken; so good!)
• 1 lemon, pricked several times with a knife
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 425°.
• Arrange the potatoes, onions, and carrots in a baking dish.  Toss with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in oven and roast for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, rinse the inside and outside of the chicken under cold water and pat dry.  Stuff the cavity with lemon and thyme and tie the legs together with butcher's twine.  (I could not find it at my grocery store.)
• After the carrots and potatoes have roasted for 15 minutes, place the chicken, breast side up, on top of the vegetables.  Brush the chicken skin with butter and season with salt and pepper.  Continue roasting until the chicken is a golden brown and the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a fork, about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or 18 to 20 minutes per pound.  Remove the chicken from the oven, carve, and serve with the vegetables.  

Did anyone notice I roasted the chicken upside down?  Tasted great in spite of that!

So delicious!  Everything has such great flavor!

The house smells so good, too!  Yum!

I hope you will try this recipe.  It is so good, and it is great for the cooler fall temperatures that are in most areas of the county.  It was 64° in Orlando when I took Milo for his walk, but alas, it is now 81°.