Oven Roasted Chicken

Today, I am actually making three recipes off of my Cooking "to do" List!  First, I am going to oven roast some chicken using Miz Helen's recipe from her blog.  Next, I am going to make a really great chicken gravy using the drippings.  And then, I am going to make some homemade chicken stock to freeze! 

So let's take a look at Miz Helen's Roasted Chicken recipe.  She likes to roast two chickens at once and says, "There is plenty of room in the oven which has to be heated up anyway and the pan is plenty big enough.".  Makes perfect sense to me!  You can just freeze the extra meat to use later.  I would just divide into portioned freezer bags before freezing.  Then you can just pull one frozen portion out to thaw at a time!

Here are some of my recipes I might use the extra chicken meat for:

Chicken Tacos
Chicken and Noodles
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Enchilada Casserole
Chicken Pot Pie
Pasta with Proscuitto Peas and Cream

So let's get started!

Ingredients:

2 chickens
1 lemon, quartered
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, quartered
4 large stems rosemary on the stem
6 sprigs thyme on the stem
1 1/2 teaspoons salt - per chicken
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper - per chicken
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

Cut the lemons and onions into quarters and chop the celery.

Wash each chicken and pat dry.

Place 2 onion quarters, 2 lemons quarters and 1 chopped celery stalk with 2 stems of rosemary and 3 sprigs of thyme in each chicken cavity.

Rub each chicken all over with 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil for each chicken. 

Season both chickens on each side with the salt and pepper.

Note:  I found it easier to measure out the salt and pepper into a small ramekin for each chicken.  I stirred it to combine and then sprinkled it all over the chicken.  That provides for a more even coating of seasonings.

Place on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Pour 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pan, do not cover.

Roast uncovered at 425 degrees F for 1 hour and 15 minutes

Let the chickens cool completely before removing from the roasting rack.

When the chicken has cooled it can be removed from the bone or sliced for serving.

Miz Helen's Tip:

I also place the skin on top of the chicken for storing, it helps keep it moist.

The verdict:

This ended up being a lot of work all around for an okay meal.  The roasted chicken didn't have much flavor and I think I actually prefer the  roasted chickens from Costco.  The chicken gravy was REALLY good and saved this meal.  I am happy that I now have 3 ziploc bags of chicken and some frozen chicken stock in my freezer, ready for some quick dinners!  But I would probably not go to the trouble to make this again...



Recipe from http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/2011/06/roasted-chicken.html