One of my goals when I began to cook regularly was to get comfortable with roasting a whole chicken. The first time I roasted a chicken, I had some minor problems which involved being unable to find the giblets, cutting open the chicken to find them, and then Joe sewing the chicken back up with a suture kit. Sometimes (but not often) it pays to be married to a doctor. The chicken tasted fine, but it didn't look so pretty.This time I was prepared. After fretting over what our main entree would be since we did turkey and ham at Thanksgiving and my mom vetoing lamb, beef, duck, or anything more unusual, I settled on a roast chicken. It would be the perfect amount of meat for five of us, and my mom said that she loved roast chicken.
I simply washed it, patted it dry, and rubbed it with olive oil. Then I stuffed the cavity with a quartered lemon and some rosemary and thyme. I also rubbed the breast with a little chopped up rosemary and thyme. I roasted it in a 325-degree oven until the temperature read 170-degrees (about an hour and a half) and then let it rest for ten minutes before carving it.
Everyone was pleased with the chicken, and I took the carcass and bones home and made stock out of them yesterday.
