Monday, March 9, 2009

Roast Chicken #1

Like never having read The Scarlet Letter as an English major, never having roasted a chicken was something that filled me with compunction. And just like my predicament with Hawthorne, I was tempted to lie about my lack of experience with the poulet roti. But all that changed last Friday night.



I started with an organic bird called Rosie and a simple recipe that asked for nothing more than a lemon and some salt & pepper. I added 3 cloves of garlic on the assumption that garlic makes everything better.



Preheating the oven to 350 degrees, I prepared a dish of potatoes, onions and carrots tossed with olive oil and rosemary to cook alongside the bird. Then, three friends and I poured glasses of wine and waited to see what would happen.



What happened, after about an hour and twenty minutes, was a perfect roast chicken--golden and crispy on the outside, and running with clear lemony juices. And while I may never get around to reading Hawthorne, had I known how simple and satisfying it would be to roast a chicken, I surely would have done it sooner.

4 comments:

Jake said...

Hawthorne is reasonably worth reading. I mean, you can probably live a full and complete life without reading him, but it is worth it if you can.

Chicken looks delicious!

Cara said...

I can testify that this woman is a bona fide chicken-roasting prodigy.

adele said...

I have a friend who majored in theatre, and never read Hamlet. I think you're safe on the Hawthorne front.

Your roast chicken looks spectacular. :)

Michele said...

This looks so good. If you want to try something new next time, check out Barefoot Contessa's "Perfect Roast Chicken". (It is also full of garlic!)