Lemon-Sage Roasted Chicken

I tried to get all artsy fartsy with the herbs & flavors in this yummy recipe. Though I really should just leave the artwork to Richard Neuman. I love his stuff. (The Sage, Thyme pics are his artwork.)

~ Lemon Thyme is a pretty pink perennial I like to grow in the garden.  
~ Italian Parsley and Cooking Sage do pretty well in the herb garden, too. Though it's not really a garden. It's just a whole bunch of pots on the deck that get hauled indoors at the first sign of nasty weather.
~ Cooking Sage {Salvia officinalis} is different from the ornamental sages that most of us grow in our gardens. These flowers are edible and have a subtler flavor than the sage leaves.
~ Rosemary comes and goes. {She's such a little weenie.} If I forget to water her, even once, she curls up and dies. But that's okay. Dried, crushed rosemary imparts great flavor to chicken and homegrown potatoes.

As for those Lemons? Perhaps some day I'll get to garden in zone 9 Nirvana. Until then they're on the grocery list.

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Do you ever bite the bullet and roast a whole chicken? There's not much cause to do so these days since the supermarkets happily do that for us. But every once in awhile I love to make this from-scratch version of that bird in the bag so readily available at the market.

• Place the chicken in a large stew pot and cover with water.
• Toss in 2 sliced lemons.
• Plus, one full cup of crushed herbs just like Simon and Garfunkel suggested way back when ~ parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. 
• And, 1/2 chopped yellow onion plus lots of chopped, fresh garlic.
• Put a lid on this mess and let it percolate in the 'frig overnight.

Drain this glorious bird while you're pre-heating the oven to 475 degrees (F.) Put your cast iron skillet into the oven while it's pre-heating.

After about 15-20 minutes, remove the hot skillet, coat it with olive oil and brown the chicken in it. Rub some crushed Rosemary and Sage on the chickie. Then roast in that same iron skillet at 475 degrees for about an hour. (Time depends upon the size of the bird.)

* Now I know what you're thinking... 2 days of effort vs. 10 minutes in the checkout line at the supermarket. Is it worth it? Well... it makes for one ultra-marvy Sunday Dinner. :)

** Dearest Hazel: If you're reading this, it's time to step bravely out of the dark ages and ramp that oven up to a hot, hot 475. (This crazy gal recently confessed that she never cooks anything hotter than 325. (Huh??)