Roasted Chicken With Lemon, Garlic And Thyme

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 (6 lb) roasting chickens, approximately 6 pounds
• 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
• salt & fresh ground pepper
• 1 lemon
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, plus more
• fresh thyme, for garnish
• 2 medium onions, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

Recipe

• 1 let the butter and chicken stand at room temperature for 3o minutes or so.
• 2 preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• 3 remove and discard any giblets, excess fat, and plastic pop-up timer, if there is one.
• 4 to prevent burning, tuck the chicken's wing tips under the body.
• 5 season the cavity of the chicken, liberally, with salt and pepper.
• 6 roll the lemon back and forth on the counter to get the juices going. pierce the entire surface of the lemon with the fork.
• 7 smash up the garlic cloves- the side of a knife does this well.
• 8 insert lemon, garlic and thyme into the cavity of the bird.
• 9 arrange the onion slices in the center of a heavy-duty roasting pan. (arranging the onions in overlapping rows works great) place the chicken on top with the breast side up. tie the chicken legs together with kitchen twine.
• 10 spread the softened butter over the entire surface of the chicken. season generously with salt and pepper.
• 11 roast the chicken until skin is crisp and the skin is a nice golden brown. the juices should run clear when the chicken is pierced with a fork- about 1 1/2 hours. the chicken will be cooked perfectly when an instant-read thermometer (inserted into the breast- then thigh) will read 165 degrees.
• 12 garnish with sprigs of thyme.