Fall Food!

So excited that it is finally almost fall, and that it is finally time for delicious fall food! Tonight I made a roast chicken with root veggies with a green salad for dinner, and it totally hit the spot on a chilly fall day. I've tried to make roast chicken several times, and it's definitely trickier than it looks - in my experience, it's either perfectly cooked in spots and dry in others, or perfectly cooked in spots and raw in others. Sadly tonight's was no exception - had a few parts that were too pink to eat - but the majority of it was delicious, flavorful, juicy inside and crispy skin on the outside. The potatoes, carrots and garlic were absolutely perfect too, so all in all, a success.

Ingredients:

• 1 roasting chicken
• 4-5 large potatoes or equivalent in fingerlings (I prefer fingerlings)
• 5 large carrots
• Head of garlic
• 1 Onion
• 1 stick butter
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Garlic flakes or powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (yes, really, and be prepared for some smoking)
2. Generously butter the roasting pan.
3. Make the herb butter - soften the stick of butter and add thyme, rosemary, garlic flakes/powder, salt and pepper. Mix and stick in the fridge to set up.
4. Scrub and peel carrots, cut into 1-2 inch pieces; and scrub and cut potatoes (just cut fingerlings in half.) Add to buttered roasting pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. 
5. Cut onion into four quarters and add to pan.
6. Peel 12-15 cloves of garlic and add to roasting pan whole.
7. Wash inside and outside of chicken and pat dry.
8. Add half the lemon (in slices), a few more smashed cloves of garlic, some thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, etc. to the cavity of the chicken.
9. Take herb butter and massage the crap out of it into the chicken. Rub on top of skin, and under skin. If there is any left over, dot around on veggies.
10. Roast at 500 degrees for 10 minutes per pound (so a 4.5 lb chicken would be 45 minutes). Stir veggies about halfway through.
11. Again, it will smoke, so move any smoke detectors, etc., and open some windows :-)
12. Yum :-)

The finished product: