For years, I didn’t seem to understand how to keep the chicken moist while baking. Fortunately, my intelligent husband showed me that stuffing the chicken with lemons keeps the meat moist and delicious everytime. It’s easy , fast and works everytime. Of course, the secret to great tasting chicken is buying an organic, hormone antibiotic chicken that is vegetarian fed. There is such great flavor in these little chickens, I can even roast the carcass up and make great tasting stock for soup the next day.
First rinse and pat dry chicken. Cut up 2 lemons into quarter and stuff chicken. If you have fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme, you can stuff that in the chicken cavity as well. Next, cover the body in olive oil, salt and pepper and paprika if you have it. I particularly like smoked paprika as it has a great flavor and helps to make the skin a beautiful golden brown.
In a preheated oven of 425 degrees, I place the chicken in the center rack and leave in for 1 1/2 hours. The timing seems to be about the same as these little roasters aren’t that large. If you want to be sure the chicken is cooked, try pulling the leg away a little and poke to see if the juices run clear. I like to heat up 2 cups of the kitchen basics chicken stock in a pot with a little brown rice flour to thicken it. When the chicken is out of the oven, you can pour the remaining juices from the chicken into the stock and you’ll have great gravy. Add a little salt to taste. This time I served it with roast potato fries and green beans with a beautiful homemade garlic mayonnaise. These recipes will be listed soon.
- 1 hormone free fryer or roast chicken..serves 2-4 people
- 2 lemons
- Sprig of rosemary
- salt and pepper
- smoked paprika
- kitchen basics chicken stock
- brown rice flour
- Wash and pat chicken dry
- Remove any innards and stuff chicken cavity with quartered lemons and fresh herbs
- Cover outer chicken with olive oil, rock salt and ground pepper and smoked paprika
- Place in middle oven rack and bake for 1½ hours
- Pour 2 cups chicken stock in pot
- add 2 TBLS brown rice flour to thicken stock
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove chicken from oven and drain juices into gravy pot
- Carve and add gravy