Julia's Roast Chicken With Lemon And Herbs

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 fresh chicken (3 1/2 pound)
• salt and pepper
• 6 fresh sage leaves (or 4 sprigs of fresh tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried herbes de provence)
• 1 large lemon, cut in 1/4-inch slices
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup mixed roughly chopped carrots and onion

Recipe

• 1 special equipment:.
• 2 a roasting pan 2 inches deep; a v-shaped roasting rack; a pastry brush for basting; a board or platter for resting and carving; cotton kitchen twine.
• 3 preparing the chicken:.
• 4 set the rack on the lower middle level and preheat the oven to 425°f.
• 5 rinse the chicken thoroughly, inside and out, under hot water, then dry it with paper towels.
• 6 remove any lumps of fat from inside the cavity near the tail opening.
• 7 to make carving easier, remove the wishbone.
• 8 lift the flap of neck skin and insert a thin, sharp knife into each end of the breast; then slice diagonally along both sides of the wishbone.
• 9 use your finger and thumb to loose the bone, pry it out at the top, and pull it down.
• 10 if it breaks, carefully wiggle out the pieces.
• 11 trim the small bony protrusions, or "nubbins," from the wing tip joint.
• 12 then fold the wings up against the breast, where they will be held in place by the v-rack.
• 13 salt and pepper the cavity and stuff it with the sage leaves and 3 or 4 thick slices of lemon; give the slices a squeeze as you put them inches
• 14 massage the butter over the entire chicken skin, including undersides, then salt generously.
• 15 tie the ends of the drumsticks together with twine.
• 16 arrange the chicken breast-up on the rack in the roasting pan and tuck the flap of neck skin underneath.
• 17 squeeze the juice of the remaining lemon pieces over the top.
• 18 roasting the chicken:.
• 19 set the roasting pan in the oven.
• 20 after 15 minutes, lower heat to 350°f
• 21 when the chicken is beginning to brown rapidly, baste with accumulated pan juices.
• 22 roast for an hour, adding the onions and carrots after 30 minutes and basting several times.
• 23 very carefully test for doneness, checking for easy movement in the leg joint and clear color in the juices.
• 24 return it to the oven if there is any sign of pinkness. (a small chicken will roast in about 1 1/4 hours, a larger one may take 1 1/2 hours or more.)
• 25 when done, remove the chicken from the rack and set it on a board to rest for 15 minutes before carving. this allows the juices to retreat back into the flesh.
• 26 final steps:.
• 27 while the chicken is resting, make the deglazing sauce in the roasting pan.