Roast Chicken and Potatoes

This is adapted from a recipe in Tyler Florence's cookbook Dinner at My Place. The recipe is for a rotisserie chicken, but it has ammendments for just roasting it if you don't have a rotisserie, which I don't. So I'm not including the rotisserie directions. If you have one, you will have to look it up for yourself. This is the third time I have made this chicken. The first time, I flipped the chicken halfway through. Don't do this. It dries it out terribly. The second time it took three hours to cook, and I have no idea why, except that this type of thing happens to me all the time. I have an oven thermometer, because I thought my oven was always under temperature, but it is not. We ate it at about 10:30pm, but it was good. The third and most recent time it cooked up just fine in 1 hour 45 minutes, so who knows.

This is a pretty simple and straightforward recipe that doesn't require a bunch of crazy ingredients, and can be be made without a ton of planning, and trips to multiple grocery stores. But I think there are more amazing roast chicken recipes out there. I will probably make this again when I don't want to put a lot of effort in, but next I'm looking for something more adventurous. Suggestions welcome.

Roast Chicken with Lemon, Garlic and Bay Leaves

1 Five pound chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Meyer lemon, halved
1 garlic head, cut through the equator horizontally
4-5 fresh bay leaves
1/2 bunch fresh thyme sprigs (about 8)
Extra-Virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Rinse Chicken with cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Season the cavity well with kosher salt and pepper. Stuff cavity with lemon, garlic, bay leaves and thyme. Tie bird with kitchen twine. Rub outside with oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken in a roasting pan on top of the Lemon Roasted Potatoes. (See Recipe below) Roast in oven for 1 hour 30 minutes or until juices run clear. (180ºF) (possibly three hours)

Lemon Roasted Potatoes

2 pounds fingerling potatoes
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1-2 Meyer Lemons cut into quarters
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Wash Potatoes and cut lengthwise. Toss potatoes with oil. Toss with rosemary, thyme and lemon wedges in a roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper. Then roast under the chicken in roasting pan for 1 hour 30 minutes, or however long it takes.


Notes:
Chicken - Coastal Range Organic Chicken from Costco
Kosher Salt & Pepper - Had around the house
Meyer Lemon - I got a bag of lemons at Trader Joe's. I don't know if they were Meyers or not.
Garlic Head - Figueroa Produce
Bay Leaves - It says fresh, but I used the dried ones I had.
Thyme - It says fresh, but again, I used the dried thyme that I had.
Olive Oil - Costco
Potatoes - It calls for fingerling, but this time I used small yellow potatoes and they were great.
Rosemary - Fresh from the plant on my steps.