Salt And Pepper Roasted Chicken

My only new year's resolution is....to get organized. De-clutter, minimize, simplify. That is my motto. The point of success, ideally, will be when I throw out most of what I own to Goodwill. But I have settled for just getting rid of the junk that is in my hall closet and basement.

At this point, you may be wondering..."what the heck does this have to do with Chicken?"  I promise I have a point, just stick with me.

There is nothing that should be quite as basic as a roast chicken. But...I have been wayyy too guilty of having rubbed, sprinkled, stuffed, and basted my chickens with all sorts of things, unnecessary things, often too many things, and having done things to chickens that the poor creatures have imagined only in their worst nightmares? I have had this beautiful, locally raised 4lb roasting chicken sitting in my freezer for a month, knowing I would want to roast it at some point soon...and in the space of that time I have come up with about ten or fifteen ideas for roasting this choice bird. All of those ideas involved way too many ingredients, stuffings, and brushings. So, I figured, let's de-clutter this! I vowed that this time it would be different - and with my new decluttering  motto gave me just the boost I needed.

And I'm happy to say it was successful. A little Kosher salt, pepper, butter.....ahhhhh. Decluttered to tasty, moist, and crispy brown-ness. We had ours for dinner tonight with parley potatoes, and cous cous.

Salt And Pepper Roasted Chicken

You will need:
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 roasting chicken (3-4lbs)



Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside. Discard neck, giblets and other yucky stuff from chicken. Truss the chicken, then pat dry with paper towels (the dryer the outside of the bird, the more beautifully it browns), then place in the roasting pan. Rub the butter all over the outside of the chicken, stuffing a little bit of the butter into the "pockets" between the skin and breastmeat, and putting some into the cavity. Then sprinkle the salt and pepper all over the chicken. Add a little of any kind of liquid to the roasting pan, to keep from drying out. I poured 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock, and 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine - this made a beautifully flavored gravy later. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, then baste. Lower oven temperature to 375, then bake for an additional 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees D, basting at 15 minute intervals. Let the chicken rest for at least 20 minutes before carving, while you make a gravy out of those delicious peppery pan drippings. Enjoy!