Let me start by saying, I’m going to tell you the right way to roast the chicken in a minute. But first, I’ll tell you what I did. Remember when I roasted about 20 million peeled garlic cloves? Seemed like a good idea at the time. I’m trying to use up all that roasted garlic, so I had an idea to spread the roasted garlic all over the chicken. It tasted really good, but a lot of it burned, and that’s the black you see in the picture.
So don’t do what I did! Do it the way I’ve written, because the lemon and the garlic cook inside of the chicken and flavor the chicken as well as the potatoes. It’s terrific! The only thing that would make it better is if the chicken had 3 legs…..the kids always fight over the legs!
Roasted Lemon Garlic Chicken
1 whole chicken
1 1/2 pounds small potatoes
1 whole lemon, cut into quarters
6 cloves of garlic, peeled (or one head of garlic with the top cut off)
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 425.
This part is really gross, but completely necessary: remove the bag of parts (giblets) from the um, hole, in the chicken. Rinse the chicken under cold, running, water, and pat dry with a paper towel.
Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken, and stuff it with the lemon and garlic. Place the chicken on a sheet pan. Tie the legs together with kitchen string (or aluminum foil). This process helps the chicken cook evenly.
Cut up the potatoes into large, bite-sized pieces, and place them on the sheet pan around the chicken.
Drizzle olive oil over the chicken and potatoes, and salt and pepper everything well.
Cook the chicken and potatoes for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear between the leg and thigh. Stir the potatoes a couple of times during the cooking process. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to sit for 20 minutes before carving.
