For a long time, I was not the “cook” in our house. Originally when we first bought our house, the cooking responsibilities fell on to Jay because he knew how. I didn’t. We were both fine with this.

However, when I became a stay at home mom, and he started working longer hours the responsibility shifted more to me. It was terrifying and awesome simultaneously. When we got married a dear friend gave us the Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook, which is where I originally got this recipe. I’ve tried my hand at all sorts of recipes and this one has stuck around for quite some time!

It is more time intensive than labor intensive. You can prep the veggies before preheating the oven and there’s no rushing around with this recipe (unlike others, in which you have five things going on at the same time and need to get them all done in a particular order. You know the type!). What I particularly like about this recipe is that I usually have most of the ingredients in my house – I only need to pick up the chicken on shopping day.

Ingredients

• 3 carrots, cut into thirds
• 6 small red new potatoes, quartered if large
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 6 wedges (we love the veggies so I usually up this to 2 onions – if you have the room in your pan, do it up!)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, or olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 chicken (3 to 4 pounds)
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Put the carrots, potatoes, and onion in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Toss the vegetables with 1 tablespoon of melted butter or olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.  Spread the vegetables to the edges of the baking dish so the chicken may rest in the middle.

Remove the neck and giblets from the cavity of the chicken and discard. Rinse the bird under cold running water and pat dry. Put the chicken, breast-side up, in the center of the baking dish. Brush the chicken with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter or oil. Season generously salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the lemon quarters and rosemary sprigs. Put the garlic cloves under the chicken to prevent them from burning.

Roast for 45 minutes.  Remove the dish from the oven.  Using tongs, tilt the chicken, pouring the juices from the cavity onto the vegetables, and shake to coat. Your house will be smelling absolutely amazing at this point.

Baste the chicken with the pan juices.  If the bird is browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil.  Continue roasting until the chicken is a deep golden brown and the juices run clear when the tip of a knife is inserted into the thigh joint, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh, away from the bone, registers 170 to 175 degrees F, 30-45 minutes more, depending on your oven.

Transfer the chicken to a platter and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes before carving. Using the back of a spoon, mash the garlic and squeeze some lemon into the pan juices. Toss the juices with the vegetables. Carve the chicken (okay, I’m not at this point in my life yet. Jay still carves the bird) and serve the vegetables alongside.

The recipe says that it serves two but if you’re liberal with the veggies, the chicken meat can easily feed at least four.  Bon appetit!