Hummingbird Recipe. Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken

Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken

The thing about Ina Garten, if you ever watched her show Barefoot Contessa or her newer show Be My Guest, is that she is probably one of the most gracious and lovely chef/hosts one can imagine. And, if you’ve ever tried preparing her recipes you know that she is an accomplished chef, and that the recipes are prepared and tested meticulously. We are including her recipe for the Perfect Roast Chicken, because, well, it is… perfect!… and because a new generation of home chefs are proclaiming it so!

Ina has said that she prepares this chicken on Friday nights for her husband Jeffrey. We highly recommend it for Sunday dinner as well. The results will speak for themselves.

1 5-6 lb. chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 large bunch of fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs (I have used dried thyme when I didn’t have fresh on hand)
1 lemon halved
1 head of garlic cut in half cross-wise
2 tbsp. butter, melted (I use half butter, half olive oil)
1 large onion thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2 inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges (don’t be tempted to leave this out—delicious!)
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Remove the chicken giblets if included; rinse chicken inside and out. Remove excess fat and pinfeathers, and pat the outside dry.

Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Place into the cavity (stuff) the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and both halves of garlic. Tie the legs together and tuck wings under the chicken (I almost always skip this step). Brush the outside of the chicken with melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the onions, carrots, and fennel into your roasting pan. Add 20 sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper and olive oil and toss. Spread to cover the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you slice between a leg and thigh. Remove from oven and transfer the chicken and vegetables to a platter. Cover with aluminum foil and “rest” for 20 minutes. Slice and serve with vegetables.

Is your mouth watering yet?

Serves 8

Recipe by Ina Garten.