The Perfect Roasted Chicken Recipe - January

As I look over the month's accomplishments, I am a bit tickled at the fact that I seem to be running in place ever so slowly. I have not kept to my physical cardio workout regime (but have kept up my yoga practice thankfully) and the "other" Sharon has appeared from time to time. So in the month of Feburary I must re-establish that cardio regime!

I have been suffering allergies (dreaded juniper) and started cooking up a storm lately. Now that I am home, I have been working on a perfected chicken recipe which I will share with you now as I have made this recipe over many times playing with the herbs, but I always come back to this one mixture of herbs.

Perfectly Roasted Chicken:
1 roasting hen
1 large onion, sliced
1 T good olive oil
2 springs of fresh Sage
1 T fresh cracked black pepper
1 t sea salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 - 3 minced garlic cloves
a handful of fresh thyme, chopped
a handful of fresh flat leaf italian parsley
a lemon, juiced

Crank the oven to 400 degrees.

Butter a baking dish, slice the onion and lay down a bed of finely sliced onions in the baking dish. Sprinkle the onions with salt and pepper.

Wash and dry the chicken, season it with salt and pepper completely. Lay it down on the bed of onions. Add 1 spring of washed sage to the cavity of the chicken.

Chop the other spring of sage and add it to the softened butter, add thyme, parsley, garlic and salt, pepper and finally add the juice of the lemon to the mixture and gently mix. Spread the skin with your fingers and rub the mixture under the skin of the chicken legs, breasts and thighs. Drizzle olive oil over the skin of the chicken and rub into the skin. Add the lemon skins to the chicken cavity.

Put the chicken in the oven and turn heat down after 15 minutes to 325 degrees and bake it for 1 hour and 30 minutes total (up to - 2 hours depending on the size of the chicken). Use a temperature gauge to ensure the chicken temperature reaches 160 - 170 degrees. Remove from oven, tent it and and allow the juices to re-distribute - wait for 15 minutes before cutting. Then slice and serve with fresh mixed greens, whole grain fresh baked bread and cheese with broccoli.

Serves 4 people.