Roasted Chicken

I have been craving roasted chicken for a few weeks now.  I'm not sure what sparked my craving, but over the long Labor Day weekend, I attempted this relatively easy recipe for the first time.  It turned out absolutely delicious and juicy.  If you're having dinner guests over, it is a very impressive meal for not too much work.

This recipe was adapted from this Ina Garten Perfect Roasted Chicken Recipe.  I obviously made some tweaks along the way.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Nance (my mom, for those of you that don't know) decided to make this dish on the same day.  We were having a long distance cook off.  :)  So some of these pictures are courtesy of her as well.

Ingredients
1 (4 pound) roasting chicken
Salt
Ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
1 lemon

 5-7 garlic cloves (I left them whole)
  4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter (some will be melted) 

1 large vidalia onion, thickly sliced
  8-10 baby carrots
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
Olive oil

Directions
*1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 

*2) Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. 

 *3) Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. 

*4) Spread butter on the outside of the chicken and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. 

*5) Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.   (This step is optional.  Please read  this article to decide what works best for you.)  I used foil since I didn't have butchers twine.

*6) Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
*7) Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the chicken and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. 

Enjoy!

I served this with roasted potatoes and sweet corn.  Definitely paired well together. :)