Lemon-Lime Garlic Roasted Chicken

With Feta Stuffed Plum Tomato



This is an adaption from Ina Garten's recipe. She has some wonderfully simple recipes and while she must have been quite good writing nuclear energy policy in her previous job, she is probably far more appreciated in her current career. Here's to the Barefoot Contessa (raised glasses clicking)
Everyone likes a a tasty meal, don't you think so?

I didn't have the called for number of lemons but I did have lime available so I modified. Why not?

The recipe calls for:

1 five pound roasting chicken
salt and pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme
4 lemons (I needed to substitute one lime)
3 heads garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 pound sliced bacon


Cut up lemon/lime and garlic. You'll note from the photo I that did not read the directions and pulled the garlic cloves out individually so...next time I'll do it correctly and we'll have lovely melty garlic.


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove chicken giblets and wash chicken, pat dry then season liberally with salt and pepper.

Stuff the cavity with thyme, leaving a bit to garnish the the chicken dish. Place 1 lemon, halved, and 2 halves of the garlic.



Ready for this.......cover it with bacon! Yes, wonderfully thick-cut slabs of bacon. I used maple bacon.



Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Remove bacon slices and set aside.



Continue roasting the chicken for an additional half hour or until juices run clear. Carve and plate up.



Served with plum tomatoes stuffed with feta cheese.



If I had sliced the garlic properly we would have had fat hunks of butter soft garlic to spread on the baguette. See the white and tanned garlic cloves? They were near perfect. Alas........we have some melty garlic but the others could chip a tooth. Those over baked worthless hulls had to be tossed out as they wouldn't even make the grade to be included in soup.



Despite being short the quantity of lemons I needed it worked out well. The taste was very good and I have put some of the chicken in soup for our lunch. The bacon that was set aside also made it into soup and the flavors all mingled very well.