Ingredients
- 1 roasting chicken
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lemons, sliced
- 3 large cloves garlic, peeled
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- Twine
- Rosemary
Directions
- Let chicken and 1 tablespoon butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
- Remove the giblets and excess fat from the chicken cavity. Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water. Dry chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Sprinkle the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper and tuck the wing tips under the body.
- Insert garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and lemon into cavity.
- Drizzle a little olive oil after rubbing the butter all over (not too much) and some chopped rosemary (also not to much) for added flavour
- Place chicken in pan. Bring chicken legs forward, cross them, and tie together with twine.
- Spread the softened butter over entire surface of chicken, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
- Place in the oven, and roast until skin is deep golden brown and crisp and the juices run clear when pierced, about 1 1/2 hours. When chicken seems done, insert an instant-read thermometer into the breast, then the thigh. The breast temperature should read 180 degrees and the thigh 190 degrees.
- Remove chicken from oven, and transfer to a cutting board. Let chicken stand 30 minutes so the juices settle.
- Untie the legs, and remove and discard garlic, thyme, and lemon. Carve, and serve.
