Today I'm bringing you a special dinner to celebrate anything you want! This one is perfect for any kind of occasion, if you change the chicken for turkey, it will definitely make a terrific Thanksgiving Dinner or Christmas Dinner!
It might not be as easy as the rest of my recipes, but it is worth the extra time and effort! Your family, friends and/or guests would be very surprised with this dinner! This one is under $15 dollars, and will feed up to 6 persons! I hope you like it!
Chicken was $4.99 potatoes were .99c a pound and the corn were 3 ears $1. Herbs were 1.99 for the 3 of them.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 1/2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tablespoons of thyme
1 tablespoon of sage
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
3 whole cloves (optional)
1/3 of cup of unsalted butter, soften
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Zest and juice of one orange
Zest and juice of one lemon
tablespoon of smoked paprika
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Optional
3 ears of yellow corn cut in quarters
1 pound of red and white potatoes cut in quarters (half a pound of each)
1 large red onion chopped in big chunks
Chop the fresh herbs, rosemary, thyme and sage.
In a bowl combine the butter with the olive oil, the fresh herbs and minced garlic. Add in the orange zest, lemon zest and 1/2 cup of orange juice plus 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Season with 1/2 tablespoon of each, salt, ground black pepper and smoked paprika. Stir everything together. Taste for flavor, add more salt and pepper if needed. Set aside.
Rinse the chicken with cold water, rinse it inside and out. Pat it dry with some paper towels.
In order to get all the flavor into the meat and not only the skin, loosen the skin from the body a little bit. Place your index finger in between the skin and the meat
and start working your way up to the neck and sides of the chicken. Push between the skin but be careful not to remove the skin or tear it apart. Continue doing this until you have loosen the skin from the whole chicken.
Using a knife, poke the chicken several times, this is just to make sure, all the flavors will be absorbed into the rest of the meat.
Rub the butter mixture under and on the skin. Make sure to massage it really well under the skin first. We want all those delicious oils from the fresh herbs and the rest of the flavors to fully impregnate the meat making it just as delicious as the skin itself. So rub the mixture under the skin really well.
Pour whatever is left on the chicken, and rub it very well on the skin
don't forget to do the back as well and also rub some of the mixture inside the chicken cavity.
Season with salt, ground black pepper and paprika, about 1/2 tablespoon of each on each side, give it one last rub. Refrigerate for 4 hours before cooking. (Overnight will be better)
Optional
This extra step takes less than 5 minutes and it will make the chicken 10 times more
delicious and juicy.
Fill the chicken cavity with one half of the orange that we used earlier, also add the remaining half of the lemon and 3 garlic cloves and if you have any left over herbs also insert them in the chicken cavity. Refrigerate for 4 hours before cooking. The flavors would be even better if you refrigerate overnight.
Bake at 400° for 30 minutes. Turn around and continue to bake for 25-30 more minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked.
If roasting potatoes and corn with the chicken
Bake the Chicken at 400° for 30 minutes. Turn around, add the potatoes, corn and onions, season with extra virgin olive oil, salt and ground black pepper. Continue to cook for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
Transfer the chicken to a serving plate, remove everything you put inside the chicken cavity: orange skin, lemon wedges, herbs, garlic, etc. Stir (bathe) the potatoes, corn and onions in the chicken juices, then transfer to the same serving plate with the chicken and that's it, enjoy!
To watch this video recipe click HERE!
