Channeling Julia

Ever since watching Julie & Julia and reading the book, My Life in France, by Julia Child, I have wanted to hold a helpless chicken in the air.

Meryl Streep playing Julia Child in Julie & Julia

And oh, what fun it was!  Enjoy this simple roasted chicken recipe that includes a host of  tasty vegetables.  Bon Appetite! as Julia would say.

RECIPE

1 (5-6 lb) roasting chicken

1/4 cup fresh thyme

1/4 cup fresh rosemary

3 garlic cloves
Olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 lemons
1 can chicken stock
carrots
squash
fresh green beans
2 red bell peppers


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  

Chop thyme, rosemary, and garlic.  Blend together herbs with 2 teaspoons olive oil in a small food processor.  Add salt and pepper as desired.  

To prepare vegetables:  Rinse vegetables and chop carrots, squash, and bell pepper.  Toss blended herb mixture with vegetables (save some for chicken).

To prepare chicken: Gut the chicken.  Then rinse the chicken, and dry it well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.  Place chicken in roasting pan.  Liberally sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, then coat chicken with herb mixture.  Halve lemons and stuff 2 lemon halves in chicken cavity.  Pour can of chicken stock in bottom of roasting pan and arrange vegetables around chicken.  Lay other lemon halves in roasting pan with vegetables.  

Then you must truss the bird.  When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Continue roasting the chicken for an additional 1/2 hour, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh.