You know how you get those urges to roast meat when its cold outside? Or when you are hungry? Or how your mouth starts to water when you think about tender meat falling off the bone and then saliva is dripping down your chin but you dont notice. No. No, you dont. Cause you got meat on the mind…
Oh, hello. Anyway, I had one of those urges recently and thought that a good whole chicken should get a good ol roast in my kitchen. If you have never done this before, do it soon. It is cheap and easy and warmed the cockles of B’s heart. I also made up some spaghetti squash and tostones for a full frontal meal. Plus, you can use whatever is your flavor of the month cause chicken is your blank canvas ready suck up what ever you put in it. I have been feeling the northern african spices lately. I dont even know if its accurate to call them that, but maybe? Check it.
Whole Roasted Chicken with North African Spices
1 whole chicken
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp cayenne powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
.5 tsp coriander
half stick of salted butter
3 lemons
1 cup of chicken broth
In a small bowl using a fork, combine the garlic, spices and butter to make a paste. Use most of the paste to rub on the outside of the entire chicken, making sure to also get underneath the skin of the breasts. Slam a chunk into the cavity as well. And people, this is 101 here, but please remove the bag of guts that comes with the chicken. Oh, and chicken 102 is that you need to tie the wings and legs together or to the body so they dont burn. I thought using B’s shoelaces was in bad taste, literally, so I wrapped some tin foil around them bad boys and BAM, that bird was done tied.
Cut your lemons in half and give them a light squeeze inside the bird. Shove as many of the squeezed halves inside the cavity that will fit. Pour the broth into your roasting pan and youre ready to cook.
Bake at 350 degrees until your thermometer reads the breast meat at 170. It is done when it reaches 175 but it will continue to cook after you pull it out the oven so taking it out a few degrees before will ensure a moist AND salmonella free bird. Also take care when using the thermometer that it isnt touching bone. Depending on your birds size and how shit your oven is, it will probably take from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. If you do all this, you’ll get this:
When the chicken came out the oven, B carved that shit (yeah, so what, I know it is 2008 and but I like seeing my man carve a bird I just cooked. AND I was in heels. (yeah right))
