Chicken Dance

My family and I are currently overseas for my husband's work. We're in one of the Baltic States, and I find the food situation to be less then desirable, but I enjoy the challenge. I remember the first time, back at home, I was able to roast a chicken without lookng at a recipe, I called Mumzel and told her because I was so proud of myself. As a full-time Domestic Engineer for almost three years, I'm finally getting to the point where I feel like I know what I'm doing, housewise. The boy is another story, but we stomp our way through.
So here's how you roast a chicken, from memory.
Take a nice chicken, preferrable organic, prefferably fresh, preferrably cage-free (although that can be a bit of a misnomer). These things make a difference, and not just in chickens. It should not necessarily be a "vegetarian" chicken, as chickens were made to eat bugs, and should be allowed to stuff themselves silly with beetles and worms. Or at least something abit meaty.
Wash the chicken, adding a little dance for your children's sake. Your kids ARE cooking with you, right? If they are small, you need one of these.


I have no idea who this kid is, but she's cute.
It's the Learning Tower, and it's usually about $149.00 USD with free shipping from most websites. Worth every penny, even in a tiny house like ours where I must move it to the counter every time we use it. It's heavy, and can hold two kids, although my son is really possesive about his. A chair or librarian's stool also works just fine.
So where were we? After the chicken dances, rub it with olive oil or butter, then Sea Salt , or Kosher, depending on what you're going for, and freshly ground black pepper. Smear some under the skin if you can. Then, have your kid shove a a multi-pierced whole lemon in it's butt, or whatever that hole is. Lightly brown it on all sides in your dutch oven, or cast iron pan, whichever pan you have that can do stovetop and oven. Then, put it, BREAST SIDE DOWN in the 375 oven and add some white wine, like a cup or so. Baste every 20 minutes. It takes about an hour for a 3.5 lb chicken, and about 1.25 hours for a 4.5 pound chicken, but you know what your oven can do.
To make it a one-pot dinner, peel and cut up some carrotts and potatos, toss them in a teency bit of olive oil, and throw them in the pot, too. It doesn't really seem to make more than 5 or ten minute difference in the cooking time.

Three notes:
I originally put the chicken breast side down by accident. I didn't know which side was which. It turns out, breast meat cooks faster than dark, so the combination of breast side down (tee hee) and basting actually keeps the breast meat moist.

Let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven. This helps the juices reabsorb back into the chicken, so you don't have a "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" moment. Well, maybe not quite that dramatic.

Make sure your oven is preheated and your pan is prewarmed, and oiled before browning the chicken. This keeps the food from sticking. If you're using Teflon, don't tell me. I will be sad.

That's all for now! Let me know how it works out.
-Anne