Now that the first semester of Junior year is officially over, I’ve been super busy over winter break preparing to study abroad. That’s right, in just 5 days I’ll be leaving for Florence, Italy! Wow, writing that makes it feel even more real. FLORENCE. Ahhh, yep. It’s happening.

I’ve been dreaming about going to Europe for as long as I can remember and it’s absolutely surreal that I’ll be studying for 5 months in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I’m also super excited to blog about my experience right here! I’ll be sharing photos and stories about my daily adventures and of course…about the amazing food!

But in the meantime, let’s talk about roast chicken.

I’ve always read that roasting a chicken is so much simpler than it seems and not to be afraid of tackling a full bird. I’ll admit, I’ve never worked with much more than a lean, thinly sliced chicken breast…so thinking about taking on the whole thing kind of intimidated me. But hey, you have to start somewhere, and turns out… it was simple and turned out DELICIOUS!

I picked up a beautiful fresh chicken fed a vegetarian diet (no hormones or antibiotics) at our farmers market and thought about what I had at home to go with it. I knew there were some beets, celery, and carrots in the fridge waiting to be used and we always have apples around. Why not a bed of vegetables! I grabbed an onion and remembering The Pioneer Woman‘s recipe, a bag of lemons and was good to go.

If you like rustic homey vegetables and juicy flavorful chicken you’ll absolutely love making this! Also, if you’re looking to make a hearty meal for a crowd that looks like you slaved over it for hours, this couldn’t be easier to throw together, fast. And an added bonus, it makes the entire house smell AMAZING. Trust me.

I will say, carving the chicken was completely new to me. So I found this video on youtube which helped a lot. There might be others out there that suit you better, but from a beginners perspective this one’s not to hard to follow. Oh technology, saving the day yet again.

So without further adieu..

Roast Chicken with Rustic Vegetables 

*Take chicken out of refrigerator before cleaning/cutting vegetables, place on counter and let it come to room temp to ensure even cooking! *

Ingredients
1 whole Chicken (preferably fed a vegetarian diet)
2 bunches of Carrots, cleaned/peeled sliced in half
1 bunch of Beets, cleaned/peeled and sliced thinly with a mandolin/diced
2 Apples, cleaned/peeled thinly sliced
2 stalks of Celery, cleaned and cut 1/2 inch pieces
1 white/yellow Onion, thinly sliced
salt & pepper
dried or fresh Rosemary & Sage
Garlic Powder
4-5 fresh cloves of Garlic
3 whole Lemons
1 stick of Butter (4 oz) softened

Directions

Move wire oven rack to lower middle. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Line a large roasting pan (not a baking sheet) with non-stick foil and spread the vegetables and apples across the bottom.

Drizzle with olive oil and add 2-3 cloves of grated (or finely chopped) garlic over top. Toss with salt, pepper and about a small palm full of rosemary & sage. Dust lightly with garlic powder. Cut one of the lemons in half and squeeze lemon juice over top of vegetables (be careful of seeds!)

Preparing the bird: Remove the giblets from inside the cavity. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat dry with a paper towel and place on a workable surface (counter/cutting board)

In a bowl, create butter mixture by combining softened butter, zest of two lemons, heavy pinch of rosemary & sage, and salt & pepper to taste.

Use your fingers to smear the butter mixture all over the chicken (inside all of the crevices!) Place the bird on top of the vegetables in the roasting pan.

Cut the other two lemons in half and squeeze the juice of one lemon all over the chicken. Place however many halves of lemon that fit and the remaining garlic cloves (sliced) into the cavity of the bird. If you have kitchen string, tie the legs together.

Place in the oven and roast for about 1 1/2 hours or until done. Skin should be deep golden brown and juices should be sizzling. Remove the chicken and vegetables and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes.

Transfer vegetables to a covered platter. Place chicken on a cutting board and carve (here’s that video again if you need help!)

Serve sliced chicken with vegetables.

Enjoy!