Today was the first day of school. Well technically it was yesterday since it’s now after midnight. My Latin American Music class met today, as well as my English writing class. My music class is making me a little nervous, since a huge portion of the grade seems to be based on these group projects where we put on a creative presentation about a Latin music artist. 1) I’m nervous about having the time to meet with other students while trying to work and stuff, and 2) I’m old. LOL! I know I brought this up before, but it’s so much more obvious now that I have started classes and 3) you wouldn’t know it, but I’m kinda shy. I have a hard time talking to people I don’t know. But there’s this nice gal I met in class who was sitting next to me, and we struck up a conversation and she seemed interested in doing group work together, so maybe I’m not as bad at meeting people as I thought.
My English writing class is basically based on technology and social media, and the main project for the class will require keeping a blog. Um, HELLO?! If I don’t do well in this class, I should just shut this page down, because that would be embarrassing. AND I don’t know what the topic for the class blog will be, but I will keep you guys posted once it goes live, in case y’all are interested in checking it out. But some of the other work in the class will involve making a podcast and video. Dude. DUDE!!! I’m super excited about this class.
My other class has it’s first meeting tomorrow (today?!) morning and then ballet (yes, ballet) starts Tuesday. But all in all, it was a pretty good day. I’m learning new stuff, like there’s this thing called “moodle” which they started using after I left, and I had to figure out what it was. Thank goodness my Latin American music prof is so nice and took a second to explain it to me. I also kind of had to re-learn the layout of our library (which if you’ve been in the Oxy library you know is already kind of a nightmare when you KNOW how to get around).
But now that I’m a big, fancy college student again, my time is going to be even more limited. Especially if I’m going to be trying to work at the same time, which would be important for those bill type things. Ya know? So today’s recipe is really more of a time saving device. Clinton Kelly, from TLC’s, “What Not to Wear,” has apparently also become somewhat of an entertaining guru. He’s come out with a book, and apparently the recipe I’m about to talk about is in there. But I’m not gonna lie…he was a guest on an episode of Tyra (when it was still on the air) and I got this from that episode. This is probably the fastest roast chicken you will ever put together. EVER. There is almost NO hands on time. And then the best part, is you won’t finish a whole chicken (although I totally could…) so then you have leftovers to make like, chicken salad sandwiches, or chunks of chicken to put into ramen, so you’re totally stretching this out over a couple meals, saving yourself even MORE time!! AMAZING.
What you’ll need:
- One whole chicken
- Various fresh herbs (I used thyme, tarragon, rosemary, and sage)
- One lemon
- Butter
- Salt and Pepper
- Kitchen twine
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Pull out any gizzards and rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat dry thoroughly. According to Clinton, if the skin isn’t totally dry, you don’t get that amazing roasted chicken skin texture that’s so delicious and…well…delicious.
Stab the lemon multiple times all over and stuff the lemon in the cavity along with the fresh herbs.
Truss the chicken with your kitchen twine and then rub the whole chicken with butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° and cook for 15 minutes per pound. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. I will tell you from previous knowledge that the resting (of ANY meat) after cooking is VERY important. This helps the juices reabsorb into the meat that have been released during cooking. If you cut into the meat too early, it will all drain out and you end up with a dry meat.
Final step: Enjoy!! I served mine with roasted brussel sprouts this time, which are equally easy and delicious.
Looks great and really well cooked! These are the perfect, and my favourite, flavourings for chicken! Yum.
Thanks for checking out the site, and for the lovely comment!
So nice to “meet” you!!
This is an interesting method. I may have to try sometime. I roast a chicken almost every week!
DO IT!!! lol. It was pretty yummy, and super easy.
Let me know if you make any improvements!
Best chicken ever…I’ve given it to a few of my friends and they love, not only the flavor, but how fast it is to make!
Ann, I am so glad that you enjoy this recipe. Thanks for commenting!