Lemon-Herb Roasted Chicken

{Outside of Avon, Minnesota | 2005}

Growing up, my uncle lived about half an hour away, out in the Minnesota countryside, down a dead-end winding dirt road.  In the summer that road was long and dry and dusty, with a chorus of grasshoppers and song birds to accompany us on our adventures.   In the fall the leaves on either side of the road slipped from their branches and created a red and orange and gold carpet and my uncle always had carved jack-o-lanterns glowing on his fence-post.  In the winter, that road was snow-covered and slippery and our trips to the farm were few and far between as it required equal parts sliding and braking to navigate down; I'm not sure how we got back up when we left.

But in the spring....oh, in the glorious spring, that road was pot-hole ridden and muddy.  Half the time we had to drive on the shoulder of the road and through a field to get to the farm.  I use the term farm very loosely.  At random times throughout my growing up years there was a cow or two and a horse.  I think I remember some goats for awhile.  Usually a large pig or two took up residence in the back of the barn and there were two rescued baby deer for awhile when I was very young.  There were some barn cats and kittens intermittently and two lovely black labs, at two different times, that grew up with us as our hound cousins.  And always there were squawking, squabbling, gravel pecking chickens roaming the yard between the barn and the chicken coop.

In the spring we were excited to see the fluffy baby chicks.  It was fun to sneak back to the chicken coop, past the dilapidated truck that had a bee hive in it and the rusted out witches cauldron, to peek at those tiny, soft chicks.  Oh, how I wanted to pick them up and take them home.  Instead, on the Sunday afternoons that we went visiting, I would help scatter corn and change the water, all the while on my tippy-toes, because as much as I loved those baby chicks, I was not about to step in any baby chick poop.

It wasn't long before I realized that the cute baby chicks from the spring were the delicious Sunday dinner in the fall.  The original organic chicken, if you will.  These days I miss having a seemingly unlimited access to chickens in my freezer in the winter.  Now when whole fryer chickens go on sale, I stock up on 2 or 3 to have in my freezer.

And my favorite thing to do with them is to roast them, usually on a Sunday afternoon when the smell of roasting chicken fills the house with warmth and nostalgia.

• One whole fryer chicken, 3-4 pounds
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• Fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano), roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 whole lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Remove and discard the extra parts from the whole chicken and pat chicken dry; set aside.   In a small bowl combine softened butter, garlic, and fresh herbs; set aside.  Slice lemon into at least 6 rounds; set aside. 

Place whole chicken on cutting board and very carefully slide your fingers between the skin and the meat, being careful not to rip the skin too much.  Starting with the back of the chicken, place the chicken breast side down and put about 2-4 tablespoons of the garlic-herb butter mixture under the skin.  Squish it around so that it gets all over the back meat of the chicken.   Next, slide two of the lemon slices between the skin of the chicken and the meat.  Rub a little bit of extra butter and your buttery fingers all over the back of the chicken and the season with salt and pepper.  Turn the chicken over so it is breast side up and repeat with the butter under the skin and squishing it down into the legs.  Place 4 lemon slices under the skin: two  near the breast at the top and two near  the legs at the bottom.   If there is any remaining butter, rub it all over the outside skin of the chicken and then season with salt and pepper.  Place any remaining lemon pieces inside the cavity of the chicken.

Place chicken in roasting pan and put into preheated oven for about 25 minutes.  REDUCE the heat to 350 degrees and roast until chicken has an internal temperature of 160 degrees, about another hour or so. 

Remove chicken from oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Remove the extra lemon from the inside cavity and also from underneath the skin.  Slice roasted chicken and serve.  There will be a lot of lovely chicken juices and melted butter in the bottom of your roasting pan that make amazing gravy with hints lemon.

Serves 6-8