Garlic Roast Chicken

This is a delicious but simple way to prepare a perfect roast chicken.

Ingredients

1 (5-6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 heads garlic, cut in ½ crosswise
1 lemon halved
½ large Spanish onion or 1 regular onion
4 carrots cut diagonally into 2-inch chunks
2 large Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 6 pieces
1 tablespoons butter, melted

Cooking Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Pat the outside of the chicken dry with paper towels. Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken and stuff the cavity with all the garlic and lemon. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place in a roasting pan just large enough to hold it and the vegetables (too big a pan will burn the vegetables). Scatter the onion slices, carrots and potatoes around the chicken. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast the chicken for 1 ½ hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken to platter and cover with aluminum foil. Place the vegetables back in the oven and continue cooking for an additional 15 minutes.

When the vegetables are cooked, carve the chicken and place the slices on the platter surrounded by the vegetables. Drizzle some pan juices over the chicken and vegetables.

Exchanges

This makes 4 servings

Count each serving as 3-4 proteins (depending on the size of the chicken/portion), 1 restricted vegetable and 1 carbohydrate

Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten from the Food Network's Barefoot Contessa