Herb-Roasted Chicken

     I think I've mentioned before that my step-daddy did most of the cooking at my mom's house growing up.  He also travelled a lot for work.  That meant we had several night where mom was either whipping up something simple (like Kraft Mac-and-Cheese) or we were ordering take-out.  One thing that I remember as a staple in our house were those Lemon and Herb Rotisserie chickens you can get at Walmart.  Mom would take those home, whip up some mac and cheese as a side, and then use the leftovers to make the Chicken Salad I'm going to share in a minute.  Instead of buying a heat-lamp warmed hunk of meat, I decided to make my own Herb Roasted Chicken.

    For the past couple of weeks, I've been babysitting some herbs for a friend of mine while she and her husband were vacationing.  Before she left, she urged me to use as much of them as I wanted, so I wasted no time obliging her :-)   Below you'll see a few samples from her blooming little herb garden.

Chives, Oregano, Rosemary, and Basil (Purple and Green varieties)

  So here's what you'll need for the Herb-Roasted Chicken:

2-3 TBS fresh herbs of your choice
1 TBS salt
1 tsp pepper
2 TBS olive oil
Lemon, onion, and garlic to stuff inside your bird
5 lb whole chicken


Preheat your oven to 450. Remove gizzards and neck from your chicken.  Stuff bird with lemon, onion, and garlic. Set aside, and chop up your herbs.  Mix chopped herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl.  Rub herb mixture all over bird. (You can rub a bit of lemon juice over it too, if you'd like.)  Place in a roasting pan, and bake for and hour or an hour and fifteen minutes.  Remove chicken from the oven, but DO NOT cut into it yet.  Let it rest for about 15 minutes, so that the juices can redistribute.

 Serve with your choice of sides and enjoy!

I love having the leftovers to make my Mom's Chicken Salad.

Here's what you need:

4 cups chicken (chopped)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 TBS lemon juice
1 cup mayo
small onion, diced
1 cup walnuts
apple, diced
Tony's to taste
2 TBS green onion (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, and serve on croissants, Bunny bread, Rye, Wheat, Wheat Thins, Triscuits or whatever.  This stuff is good on anything :-)

If you'd like, you can substitute halved seedless grapes for apples, and toasted, sliced almonds for walnuts.  You can also play around with the amount of mayo if you like it drier.

Ta-Da!

Also, you can use the carcass from the Herb Roasted Chicken in my favorite Chicken Noodle Soup recipe.  It adds a few new flavors, and is really good.

  Well, I hope y'all are all enjoying this beautiful Saturday.  I'm about to get off of here and go feed my family.