ROAST CHICKEN

I LOVE CHICKEN. I almost never eat it in restaurants but I do remember having the best organic roast chicken I ever ate at Craigie's on Main in Cambridge one night. And there are some days which I think about roasting a chicken all day long. I suppose it's better than craving chocolate or sugar or a quart of home made ice cream (which I never keep in the house anymore!). 

Back to Roast Chicken. Like Julia Child, I massage mine. I also work my way under the skin to make a pocket and insert a pat of butter with a sage or basil leaf to make it look pretty and to flavor it a bit. I salt the cavity and insert the carcass of a whole lemon cut in two and juiced. I salt and pepper the bird, brush it generously with olive oil and put it on a rack on top of a roasting pan which has been brushed with oil where the slices of a large onion lay in a neat row. If there are giblets in the chicken (sometimes yes, sometimes no), place those as well around the onions. Put the chicken on the middle rack of a preheated 425º oven and cook for 30-35 minutes and turn over to roast the bottom. Drizzle half the lemon juice over the skin. After about 30 minutes, the skin should be golden all around. Turn the chicken around again, drizzle the rest of the lemon juice over the top and let roast 10 more minutes if you think it needs to brown anymore. The juices should run yellow when pricked with a fork. Remove from oven, let rest covered with an aluminum foil tent for 10-15 minutes before carving. 

I love eating chicken with peas and carrots.

1 very large carrot (about 2 inches in diameter and 7-9 inches long.

2 tb. stick of butter

2 tb. EVOO
Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of sugar

Lemon Juice

Chicken broth

Peel the carrot and cut the carrot lengthwise in quarters. Turn them vertically so they are standing up and cut in half. Cut each section in strips and then cut the strips in half and halve them again so you have a thick julienne slice. Do this with all of the cut carrots. Heat the pan with the butter and oil. Add the carrots, salt and pepper, a dash of nutmeg and a pinch of sugar. Cook until the carrots are evenly coated with the oil. Drizzle some lemon juice on the carrots and cook over moderately high heat for about 15 minutes. Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of chicken stock to the pan and cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Test for donenss. If they aren't cooked through, continue to cook adding a little more stock. When the carrots are done, add about 1/2 cup frozen peas to the carrots and cook for a minute or two. Take off the heat and serve immediately with the roast chicken.