Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken

Whenever I suggest a roast chicken for dinner Tom loves to do it on the grill. However once in a while I want to do an oven roast chicken with a sauce

Years ago I did a butterflied roast chicken for the family that came out fantastic. So this past Saturday, I convinced Tom I wanted to do an oven roast chicken and promised he would love it.

The flavors I was craving were lemon and garlic. I ordered from the store a butterflied chicken with the backbone taken out. When I went shopping, I decided to pick up some fennel seeds, fresh thyme & rosemary, garlic and lots of lemons.

What came out of the oven that night was one of the best tasting roast chickens Tom and I have ever had.

Here is how I did it.

Ingredients:

4 lb. whole organic chicken - butterflied with back bone removed

4 garlic cloves - sliced thin

1 large yellow onion - sliced

2 large lemons - 1 zested then cut in half - the other lemon sliced in thin wedges

1 TBL kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed - I used a mini chopper

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves - chopped

1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves - chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup dry white wine

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

First - sear the skinside of the chicken to remove a layer of chicken fat. I did this by heating up a cast iron pan until it was very hot. I added a little olive oil and laid the chicken skin side down for 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn the skin.

You just want a nice sear.

Once that was done I removed the chicken out of the pan and cleaned out the excess fat.

I dried the pan and placed it back on the stove without any heat.

I laid all the wedged lemons on the bottom of the skillet, then the sliced onions and garlic. I sprinkled a good pinch of salt and black pepper on top.

In the olive oil I added the crushed fennel, the lemon zest, the paprika, the chopped thyme and rosemary leaves, a pinch of salt and and black pepper. I stirred all the herbs and oil until blended and basted the underside of the chicken with the herbed oil - then flipped the chicken over and place it onto the onions, then basted the skin side with the rest of the herbed oil until it was fully coated.

I added a small pinch of salt and and pepper to the chicken and placed it into the oven uncovered.

After 35 minutes I pulled the skillet out and poured the white wine along the outside of the chicken and cooked it for approx 18 minutes more.

When the chicken was done - I squeezed fresh lemon juice, a pinch of Fleur de sel sea salt, over the chicken, then covered the skillet with foil, and allowed it to rest for 10 minutes while I pulled the side dishes together.

The end result was an incredibly moist tender chicken, with an amazing white wine garlic lemon sauce. So delicious. I served the sauce in bowl for dipping.

This ended up being a wonderful romantic dinner that was totally unplanned.

ENJOY!