Chicken is quite possibly my favorite thing to put on the menu at my house because of its versatility and its price per pound can’t be beat. Also, I think that there are few things better than the simplicity of a juicy piece of chicken with a crispy golden skin on top. I can easily find whole chickens for under $1 per pound. At that price, you almost make money eating it. Add some root vegetables to the mix and you can feed a family of 4 for under $8 total (with bones left over for Homemade Stock). The mild flavor of the meat lends itself to go into just about any dish where protein is needed, making it ideal to transform leftovers into all kinds of dishes to help in menu planning and budgeting for the week. For this reason, I sometimes even roast 2 at a time (increasing the cook time to approximately 1.5 hours) to maximize my meal prep for the week.

Ingredients:
5 lb whole chicken
1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Optional Ingredients:
5-6 ribs celery
4-5 carrots (which I leave whole if they are skinny, otherwise cut them in half, thirds, or quarters accordingly)
1 small onion cut into 6-8 wedges
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
2-3 oz water, white wine, or chicken stock
A small bundle of your favorite fresh herb, such as thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, sage
Additional olive oil, salt and pepper for vegetables

How I make it:
* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
* Unwrap a 5 lb (give or take) chicken, remove any giblets, etc from the inside
* Rinse well (inside and out) with cold water and blot dry (inside and out) with paper towels. Drying the chicken is key to achieve a crispy skin!
* Rub a liberal amount of olive oil all over the skin and season well with salt and pepper inside and out and lay in roasting pan (or disposable aluminum pan)
* Put aromatics in the cavity, however do not “stuff” it as the heat needs to be able to reach the inside of the bird to aid in even cooking.  Aromatics provide flavor through the release of their aroma during cooking; some good ones are fresh herbs, a slice of onion, a wedge of apple, lemon or other citrus. I used a few sprigs of fresh thyme on this one.
* Tuck each wing behind the bird and tie the legs together with kitchen twine, so that the tips don’t burn.
* After spraying the pan with nonstick spray, instead of a traditional roasting rack (which adds nothing directly to the flavor and needs to be scrubbed to clean after cooking) I use well washed ribs of celery to lift the chicken out of the pan a bit to promote more even cooking and browning and sometimes just leave it at that (especially if I have any inclination of collecting juices to make gravy). Often, I will use the opportunity to make it a one pan dinner and add carrots, and small wedges of onion to the base under the chicken, which also lends additional moisture and flavor. When adding potatoes, I cut them in about 1.5 inch pieces, otherwise I just leave them whole, poke them with a fork and bake them on a rack under the rack with the chicken. All the vegetables in the pan get a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and are drizzled with olive oil before I rest the chicken on top as securely as possible. Finally around the corners of the pan, I add 2-3oz of either white wine, chicken stock, or water. If you use just a roasting rack instead of vegetables, add 1/2c of white wine, stock, or water, to keep things moist and so juices won’t burn on the bottom. With this method the skin on the breast and legs will be golden and crisp, but not the skin on the thighs, which is pretty typical for thighs roasted on the bird unless it is butterflied. For this reason as well as that it is not prone to dry out like leg and breast meat, I think that thigh meat is the perfect cut to keep for leftovers.
* Roast for 1 hour. You will know that it’s ready when you can stick a sharp fork or knife into the thigh and the juices run clear (not pink).  Remove the pan from the oven, cover it loosely with foil, and allow it to sit for at least 10 but as many as 30 minutes before carving and serving. Allowing it to rest after cooking keeps the flavorful juices inside of the meat instead of all over your cutting board.
* Check vegetables with a knife to make sure that they are tender all the way through, otherwise return to oven to continue cooking for 10-20 minutes while chicken rests.

Usually I just serve the vegetables straight out of the pan after removing the celery and giving them a careful stir to make sure that they have all been coated in the flavorful juices that they have been roasting in. When I’m feeling fancier, I arrange them on a serving platter and drizzle the juices over top. For minimal work, your result is an amazingly scrumptious meal that fills your home with the most mouth-watering aroma. Any leftovers can be used for: Quick Chicken Curry; Easiest Chicken Pot Pie, Ever; Addictive Fried Rice and Chicken Stock used for Wedding Soup and Secret Weapon Velouté Sauce!

Happy Eating!