Honey Mustard Roasted Chicken

I don’t do much with chicken. I’m not a huge fan and often prefer turkey. But, it had been almost a year since I roasted a chicken and on a cool autumn afternoon it seemed like the right thing to do.

Here’s what I made:

I got a whole frying chicken at Whole Foods. I gave it a nice rinse, patted it dry, and put it on an upright roasting rack. I covered it in a marinade of:

• 2 TB Honey Mustard
• 2 TB Worcestershire
• 1 TB olive oil
• 2 TB local honey from New Moon Farms (Best.Honey.Ever.)
• 1/2 tsp Smoked Spanish Paprika from Savory Spice Shop
• Fresh ground black pepper
• a pinch of Red Algae Hawaiian Kai Sea Salt (also from SSS)

Then I stuffed the chicken with 3 carrots and 2 red onions, and laid some potatoes and turnips on the tray.

Next went 2 cups of water into the bottom of the roasting pan and the bird went into an oven that had been preheated to 350. I roasted for approximately 1.5 hours. It is done when the thigh reaches 180. You also want to see the juices run clear from the bird when you poke it’s thigh with the thermometer.

I had no choice but to make gravy with the pan drippings. Literally- I had no choice. The man of the house was not even going to consider a roasted chicken and potato dinner without gravy.

I served this with some Apple-Baked Brussel Sprouts.

Roasting a whole chicken is a great thing to do from time to time because after serving the breast meat on day 1, it’s resourceful to pick the bird clean and then make homemade broth with the bones. It is so much better than store bought broth, and you get to control what goes in.

Get cooking!