Simple Roasted Chicken

By TLoya

Ingredients

• 5.5-6 # Whole Chicken
• 1 orange
• 2 onions
• Crushed Garlic
• Coarse Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
• Rosemary
• Italian Seasoning
• 3 or 4 Potatoes (You can also roast whole or halved Carrots the same way & they're awesome)

Details

Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 75mins

Preparation

Step 1

Buy a whole chicken as close to 6 lbs as you can find.
Rinse it and throw away the gizzards, neck etc.
Pat dry with paper towels.
Put oven on 450 degrees.
Rack second place from bottom of oven.
Line a large roaster with coarse sea salt or coarse kosher salt.
Place chicken in the salted roaster breast side up. If you've rinsed the chicken; make sure it's been dried off; otherwise your spices won't stick to it.
Smooth the crushed garlic over the whole top of the chicken.
Quarter an orange. Take 2 pieces of it and place them inside the chicken.
Quarter the onions and do the same with it.
Throw the remaining pieces of onion around the chicken.
Sprinkle the top of the chicken with the spices.
Sprinkle with some crushed Rosemary.
Don't use pepper as pepper will get bitter in the high heat, but you can use Italian seasonings or other spices you like too.

Quarter enough potatoes length wise to line the pan around the chicken; but don't put them in yet. Don't peel the potatoes. Just cut off any bad spots.
Put the chicken in the oven (not covered) once it's ready & your oven is pre-heated. Set your timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off; take a spatula and slide it under the chicken to make sure it's not stuck to the pan. Roll your roaster around to distribute the chicken fat in the roaster then add your potatoes around the chicken and pop it back in the oven. Set your timer for 50 minutes more. Take the chicken out when your timer goes off and put the lid on the roaster to keep your chicken warm while you wrap up the rest of your dinner and get your table ready; at least 15 minutes.

Lastly I usually cut slices off the chicken breasts and put that on a platter. The rest of it you usually have to do by hand; so I take off just what I need for the dinner and let the rest cool a bit so I can handle the heat enough to tear it off the bone. Any leftover chicken is great for soup, sandwiches, enchiladas, etc, etc.

One chicken will serve about 4 people. If you have a large roaster and can fit two chickens in it; you can cook 2 birds at once. I recommend using meat thermometers though just to be sure it's done; as it can alter the cooking time slightly; but not too much.