Roasted Chicken with Lemon Zest, Garlic, Onions and Thyme

By Rander9576

Ingredients

• Marinade:
• yields 4 servings
• • 3 Tablespoons olive oil• Zest from one lemon (reserve lemon for cooking)
• • 2 Teaspoons chopped fresh Thyme
• Ingredients:
• • 2 yellow onions
• • 1 roasting chicken
• • 1 cup chicken stock
• • 1 head of fresh garlic
• • Salt and pepper to taste

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine olive oil, thyme, and lemon zest (using a microplane grater) in a mixing bowl. You should use a microplane grater (around $16) to get the maximum zest from the lemon. Using your forefinger, separate the skin of the chicken from the breast and then push the olive oil, zest and thyme marinade under the skin until all the meat is covered. Any leftover marinade should be rubbed on the outside of the skin, all over the chicken. Salt and pepper the chicken. Quarter one of the onions and the lemon and place the pieces alternately into the cavity of the chicken. Place chicken on a roasting rack inside a large roasting pan. Roast chicken, uncovered, in the 425 degree F oven for 20 minutes. Slice the other onion and reserve slices for the bottom of the roasting pan.
After roasting the chicken for 20 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Remove the roasting pan and chicken from the oven and place the sliced onion on the bottom of the roasting pan along with 1/4 cup chicken stock. Return roasting pan to the oven and roast the chicken for an additional 50 minutes or until the juices run clear. (When the meat of the chicken is pierced with a knife or long-tined fork, the juice that runs out should be clear, not bloody or cloudy.)
Cut off the top of a fresh head of garlic. Drizzle it with olive oil, wrap in foil, and place it in the oven on an oven rack. Roast it in the oven at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes. Take wrapped garlic head out of the oven and allow it to cool while the chicken finishes roasting.
Once the juices run clear, take chicken out of the roasting pan, tent with foil on a serving platter, and allow chicken to “rest.” Spoon excess chicken fat out of the roasting pan and discard it. Pour a portion of the remaining chicken stock into the pan with the sliced onions and deglaze the pan, making sure you pick up all the brown bits.
Smash the garlic head so the roasted garlic comes out and then use a chef’s knife to smear the roasted garlic into a paste. Put garlic paste and the contents of the roasting pan into a blender and blend until smooth. Careful! The contents will be hot. Pour blended sauce into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. If the sauce needs thinning, you can add some chicken stock; or to thicken, continue boiling until sauce is reduced to the desired consistency.
Slice chicken, ladle on the sauce and serve.