Recipes: Lemon roast chicken

Lemon Roast Chicken

Serves 4.

Note: You can change the flavor by substituting small oranges for the lemons. Or head in a completely different direction and omit the lemon, add about 1 teaspoon chili powder to the butter and squeeze the juice of a lime over the chicken.

• 1 (3 to 5 lb. chicken

• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, divided

• 2 medium lemons, divided

• 1/4 c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Remove the packet of giblets from the cavity of the chicken (save for another use in a stock or discard). Pull any loose fat from around the opening. Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels.

Rub the outside of the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the softened butter. Grate the zest of 1 lemon, reserving the lemon, and mix the zest with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the parsley.

Rub this gently under the skin along the breast meat, carefully detaching the skin from the meat (being careful not to rip the skin). Sprinkle the inside and outside of the bird with salt and pepper. Pierce the whole lemon with a sharp knife and put it into the cavity of the chicken.

Roast for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and continue roasting until the chicken is done. The leg will wiggle freely in its joint, the juices from the thigh will run clear when pricked with the point of a knife, and a thermometer inserted into the lower meaty part of the thigh will register 170 degrees, about 45 minutes to an hour for a 3-pound bird. (For larger birds add approximately 10 minutes per pound.)