Sometimes I just like a good old homestyle dinner.  I felt like cooking for my friend Archaellys and he thought this was pretty fancy.  I just call it Monday night.

I’ll post these as separate recipes, but unfortunately I forgot to take separate photos for each dish.  Dinner consisted of a roasted hen, sweet potato hash, green beans, and roasted fennel bulbs.  Sounds nice and autumny, right?

Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken
1 lemon
salt

Roasting a chicken is suuuuuper easy.  First, preheat your over so it’s super hot – somewhere between 425 and 450 deg F.  Prep your bird by removing the giblets (if included) and giving it a good rinse.  Bend and tuck the wing tips behind the bird, kind of like if you were to put your hands behind your head and lean back in a chair.  You can actually truss the bird if you like.  This makes for a more evenly dense meat package, but I never have butcher’s twine so I just tuck the wings and go from there.  Tucking the wings prevents the tips from burning.

Squeeze that lemon juice over and inside that chicken and throw the squeezed out lemons inside the cavity.  Rain some salt over the exterior.  Seriously.  Rain it.  It makes for a more even distribution and a tasty crust.  Throw the bird (and giblets if you have them) in the oven on a baking sheet (or a roasting rack if you’re fancy) and let it be for about an hour.  Might take a little longer (I usually go closer to 1.5 hours and drop the temp toward the end), but make sure to temp that dark meat and check that your bird is thoroughly cooked before you dig in.  Giblets will cook faster than the chicken itself, so check those before the hour is up.

If you’re alone in the kitchen, flip the cooked bird over.  Remove the tail first and eat it before anyone else sees.  Then find the “oysters” on the back and eat those.  You can share those if someone walks in on you, but get first crack at the succulent fatty tail.  You roasted the bird, you get the reward.  Then separate the parts at the joints – they should just come off like butter.

More recipes tomorrow!