Roasted Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

Tonight, to celebrate the fact that it is finally the weekend again, I'm roasting a chicken.

Weekend equals:
a)time to cook real food,
b)sleeping in,
c)energy to cook real food,
d)all of the above (and more!)

I am doing this for a few reasons. First of all, I found a couple amazing-sounding recipes for Chicken roasted with 40 cloves of garlic. Secondly, garlic was on super-sale or something at the grocery store the other day, and last night, I found 2 whole chickens for $12.... TWELVE dollars for TWO WHOLE CHICKENS.
So now, one of them is being roasted... It's little buddy is sitting in my fridge until i decide what to do with it... But honestly, its probably going to get roasted too.

This is the blog that started my 40 cloves of garlic Roasted Chicken recipe quest. So i feel like i need to include it... This one and Martha Stewart were my main resources... And previous experience.

Roasted Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic

1 Whole chicken
4-5 Potatoes
3-4 Carrots
1 onion
1 lemon
40 cloves of garlic
Fresh Parsley
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Dill
Salt/Pepper/Seasoning
Olive Oil
2-6 TBSP Butter (cut in small pieces) (amount depends on preference, and size of chicken)

Wash out the chicken, and pat dry with paper towel. Rub inside and outside with salt and pepper. I have a chicken seasoning salt that I used - but regular salt works just fine too (i like the course sea-salt).

Slice the potatoes really pretty thin. Carrots pretty thick, and Onions thin-ish so they are in rings. In fact, probably about the same thickness as you would want for onion rings.
Put the above vegetables in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil to coat, and then add some seasoning salt, and whatever dry herbs you would like, shake up, then use these to line the bottom of your pan. I don't have an actual roasting pan right now, so I am just using my large glass baking dish




Prepare your herbs/garlic: I like to cut of the bottom part of the clove to help get the skin off... There are other ways, but this is my favourite. Use whatever works for you, because it is a lot of de-skinning of garlic in this recipe (obviously). I zested the lemon, and then stabbed it a few times with a knife to help let the juices infuse into the chicken. I also used some fresh parsley, dill and rosemary.

Once everything is ready, Preheat the oven to 400 F (or anywhere between 375-425, depending on your preference)




Put the chicken on top of the potato/carrot/onion bed



Finely slice a few cloves of garlic, and put them under the skin of the chicken Breasts, along with the lemon zest, and a few small pieces of butter. Put some of the herbs and a few garlic cloves into the chicken cavity. Add in the whole Lemon, and more garlic until the cavity is full. I kept the majority of my herbs in the cavity... Only the Rosemary was used on top of the potato/carrot/onion bed for flavour/aroma.
Whatever garlic you can't fit inside the chicken, stuff into crevasses on the chicken - like in the thighs or wings... You can also put them under and on the side of the chicken. Try to get most of them inside the chicken though.



Basically, that is the extent of the work. Now you just put it into the oven until done... Make sure its not raw inside, But basically, at this point, you just need to cook it to whatever done-ness you prefer.... My meat Thermometer says that Poultry should be cooked to at least 165 F... see:


Personally, being raised by my mom, a self-confessed over-cooker. I like to make sure it is done, and take it out when the meat is practically fall-off the bone. Some people might not like this, but I do, and I like knowing that I'm not getting Salmonella.


I LOVE this chicken. Light and juicy and not at all dry! The chicken skin is even good, and i hardly ever like the skin.


Above: the chicken carcass... because tomorrow, I am going to try my hand at making Chicken stock... Inspired by my old pen-pal... Go check out her blog!!!

This photo was the Boyfriend's Idea... "It's so good, you should take a picture of the end too"
I <3 him so much!!!