Easy Roast Chicken

By god, do I love a Sunday roast. There's just so much you can do with the leftovers during the week! Sunday is becoming, more and more, the day when we cook meat. We use up the remainder during the week for salads, sandwiches, other recipes, but ultimately, if we're going to eat meat during the week, it's because we did something with it on Sunday.

I guess that's indicative of our shift towards a more plant-grain based diet.

But, there's something about Sundays that call for a roast. Perhaps it's the free time, perhaps it's because that's always what my mother did. Whatever the reason, I'm happy to carry on doing things this way!

Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Smoked Paprika

(adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

1  roasting chicken
2  teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2  teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2  teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4  teaspoon kosher salt
1/4  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2  garlic cloves, minced
1  shallot, peeled and halved
½  lemon, quartered

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Rinse chicken under tap, then pat dry with paper towel. Carefully loosen the skin around the breast and legs by pushing fingers between skin and meat. You'll find it generally separates pretty easily.

2. In a small bowl, combine butter with next 7 ingredients (through garlic), blending to form a paste. Rub on both chicken meat under skin and on top of the skin itself. Try to get as much of the garlic under the skin as possible, so it doesn't burn.

3. Truss chicken. Place on a rack in a roasting pan (or do as I do and use a rack on a cast iron skillet) breast side up, and stuff cavity with shallot and lemon pieces. Cook at 350º for 45-60 minutes, or until temperature at thickest part of the thigh reads 158-160º (or so). Raise the heat to 450º and cook for an additional 15 minutes, or until temperature of thigh reads 165º. Remove from pan and let stand 10 minutes before carving so that juices can redistribute.

You can drain off the fat from the pan and make gravy using the pan drippings. The flavours here make an especially delicious one. Any leftovers of the gravy could be used to make a totally excellent poutine.