My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken

My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken is the name of the recipe, and it's an appropriate one. For years for me, to roast a whole chicken meant stuffing and hours in the oven. Not with this recipe. It's absurdly easy and fast. I was skeptical when I first read the recipe: one hour at 450 degrees. Seriously? A caveat: That's true if you can find the 2-3 pound chicken called for in the recipe. I haven't been able to. The smallest organic chicken I find in the grocery story is usually around 4.5 pounds. So I adjust the recipe a bit. Here are the ingredients:

• One 2- to 3-pound farm-raised chicken
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons minced thyme (optional)

• Unsalted butter
• Dijon mustard

I don't use the thyme, butter, or mustard. What you do is rinse and pat dry the bird, truss it, and salt and pepper it inside and out. The recipe says to "rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin." Yes. But, if you place thick sliced potatoes on the bottom of the pan to catch the drippings (which I recommend), they will be very salty. You have to be judicious in your salting, but don't skimp. That's it. Salt and pepper. I know it sounds bland yet salty, but it's not.  The short roasting time and high heat keep the chicken oh-so-moist.

I put the chicken on a rack, but I would try it without and lay it right in the roasting pan. Using a rack, only one side gets that pretty roasted skin. The other is pasty and looks unappetizing, necessitating flipping the chicken and putting in back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes. I *think* that putting it right into the pan (as the recipe implies) prevents this problem, but you'd want to use parchment on the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking. You don't want butter or oil because the idea is to prevent any type of steam. A four to five pound chicken requires the additional cooking time, so either way - rack and flip or no - you're looking at 90 minutes. 

I make this as an everyday meal and serve with potatoes (from the bottom of the roasting pan) , a vegetable side, and a salad. I like a nice, not too creamy Chardonnay with it. It's a satisfying, delicious meal.