Poulet Roti

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Herbs

One of my favorite cookbooks is this over sized French cookbook by Carole Clements and Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen.



There are some recipes I use over and over again. This one has been a long standing fixture and one that I know I'd grab instinctively if I was told pick an armful and lets go! Sorry 'bout that Nigella - But you'd be amongst those I'd be keeping if pressed to pare the number of them down.

This particular roasted chicken is one of many variations we've had over the years. A roasted chicken is a perfect blank palate; here is the canvas, awaiting a wonderful meal to share.





This uses lemon as does another of our favorites, Lemon Roasted Chicken with Balsamic onions.

Also, I used the roasting rack in my wicked cool roasting pan, keeping the chicken lifted and basted it several times in an hour. So this also made a bit of a difference in flavors.


Here are the ingredients you'll need:

3 lb. chicken
1 lemon halved
several springs of thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp butter, softened
salt and pepper


Step one - Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.

Step Two - Squeeze the juice of one lemon then place juice, lemon halves, thyme and bay leaves inside chicken cavity. Tie legs with string and rub butter over chicken breast and sides.

Step Three - Place chicken on rack in roasting pan. Roast one hour; basting two or three times.



Before carving the bird I lay out newspapers under the cutting board to prevent the juices from sluicing out over the counter.






This roasted chicken is moist and lemony. Not overpoweringly so but a light lemon taste.



Garlic steamed green beans are nice side.


Chaumes and Camembert are great enders to the meal.




Anyone have a favorite cheese? It's hard to pick just one, isn't it?