getting creative with poultry

Okay, so just when my cooking skills needed a bit of a pick me up, i decided to make one of the grass fed, free range, yummy chickens in my freezer from Trader Joes. If starting from frozen give that bird at least 24 hours to thaw out.

There are so many roast chicken recipes out there that now i just pick a few and seemingly use the parts i like. This one turned out yummy and i roast veggies on the side which made good use of the veggies I had in house. Feel free to roast almost anything you have because likely it will be a tasty decision. Note, the two recipes i mashed up each called for very different temperatures. I cooked at the first temp 375 for 1.5 hours and veggies were done but the chicken wasn't so i upped it to the 450 of the other recipe for another 25 minutes. Personally, i think next time i'd start at the 450 because i'm pretty sure the veggies can take it and I'm not really into roasting a chicken slowly for 4 hours. :) The newest directions i found say 450 first for one half hour and then 350 for another half an hour...much more reasonable. This chicken was damn good i must say and so were the veggies. Oh happy day, roast chicken.


1 whole free range, local, organic chicken
dry or fresh oregano
2 -3 cloves garlic
1.5 lemons
whatever veggies you have at home: good choices include:
potatoes (variety of sizes), onions, leaks, mushrooms
Spinach
cooking spray

Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Rinse chicken with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.
Combine 2 tablespoons chopped oregano and garlic cloves. Rub seasoning mixture under loosened chicken skin and drumsticks. Carefully place basil leaves under loosened skin. Tie ends of legs with cord. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under chicken. Place 2 -3 lemon halves in chicken cavity.

Place chicken, breast side up, on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Pierce skin several times with a meat fork. Arrange potatoes, onions, leeks, mushrooms (and whatever else you have at home) on rack around chicken. Coat the chicken and potatoes with cooking spray. Sprinkle the chicken and potatoes with 1 tablespoon oregano, salt, and pepper.

Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees (do not remove chicken from oven); bake an additional 45 minutes or until thermometer registers 180 degrees. Cover chicken loosely with foil; let stand 10 minutes.

Take potatoes and other veggies and transfer to a skillet. Heat on low temp just to create steam and warmth and add spinach. Cook just until spinach wilts.