Simple Roast Chicken
A house of health begins with the commitment to start preparing your own food. Foundational cooking is all about embracing the simple go-to recipes that will keep your refrigerator full throughout the week and provide you with ingredients for additional recipes. Roasting a chicken is about as foundational as it gets. Buy them whole and not only do you have enough meat for up to 4 meals, you also have the bones for making stock.
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 75 mins
Total time: 1 hour 25 mins
Ingredients
1 whole organic, free range, preferably local chicken, fresh or defrosted
1 rib of organic celery
1 organic carrot
1 small onion, quartered
sea salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil or ghee
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350◦
Sprinkle inside of the cavity of the bird liberally with salt. Break the carrot and celery into 2-3 pieces and stuff inside of the cavity of the bird along with onion quarters. Rub oil or ghee all over the exterior of the bird and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Place breast side down (this keeps the white meat moist during cooking) in a casserole or baking dish.
Bake until the internal temperature of the leg reads 160◦. This will take about an 75 minutes for a stuffed bird.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before carving.
Notes
Throwing away the bones from your bird is a culinary sin! Collect bones in a large plastic bag and store in the freezer. When the bag is packed full it's time to make chicken stock.
*Save all of the gelatin-like juices that come from the chicken during the roasting process. Use this to make gravy or freeze it and add it to soups for more flavor and nutrients.