Roasting a whole Chicken for Thanksgiving

I have watched the F.R.I.E.N.D.S series rather late in life. Exactly a month before my wedding, I was diagnosed with Chicken Pox and was confined at home, I started recovering after the initial lethal attack of the disgusting virus and was still covered in extremely itchy, always-exploding blisters and did not have much to do. I was getting dead-fed up of scratching the blisters and dreading the mark would never go away, at least not in a month’s time; that is when I looked up my hard drives and discovered I had the entire series of F.R.I.E.N.D.S copied from some friend at work. I started watching them and got immensely addicted, so much so that I extended my sick leave by a few days to finish it off. I have not watched any other sitcom which spanned 10 seamless years and had millions crying when it finally ended. Even today, there are so many speculations out there, there is going to be a F.R.I.E.N.D.S movie, there should be a bonus episode and what not but alas, I think it really has ended.

I was always in awe of the thanksgiving episodes; there was one for almost all seasons. I loved how Monica would be in competition with her own self, to make another fabulous meal, better than the year before, how Joey wore giant pants to eat the entire Turkey, how Chandler ended up blabbering out that he loved Mon while she had her head inside the Turkey, Phoebe’s famous wish ‘Oh, yeah, happy needless-turkey-murder day’, how Ross and Monica would scream out each other’s secrets to their Parents, how Rachel ended up adding Beef to her Trifle, in no particular order; I love them all, equally. Above all I loved the fact that they chose to spend time with each other, at home, the elaborate meals, the silly bouts and the crazy tête-à-têtes, I loved them all.

Since then I have wished to prepare a Turkey myself, but neither is Turkey easily available here nor do I have an Oven which can fit-in a Turkey, not to forget, it is just the two of us and with no Joey, it will impossible to finish! On Nov 27^th, I was working from home and did not realize till late that it was Thanksgiving; when I did; I ran out and got a whole Chicken with skin which weighed about 1.2 Kgs (2.65 lbs.) and roasted it with some vegetables, just the way I wanted. A and I thoroughly enjoyed the me

al. I made a side of Sautéed Mushrooms as well, which I will post in a later post.

Here is what you will need to roast the whole Chicken:

Chicken – whole with skin – weighing about 1-1.2 kgs – washed and patted absolutely dry. Make sure the Chicken is well thawed; take it out from the freezer at least an hour before you start to prep it

Garlic:

-        4 cloves – minced (to go into the butter)

-        an entire head of Garlic, cut through the center (to go inside the Chicken)

-        an entire pod of Garlic, unpeeled and separated, to go with the vegetables

Unsalted Butter – 50 gms – at room temperature (not melted)

Mixed Herbs – 2 tsps (I used the dry variety, if you can fresh herbs, even better)

Lemon – 1 – halved

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Baby Potatoes – 5-6, scrubbed and cut into halves (unpeeled)

Onions – 2 – halved

Carrot – 1 – scrubbed and cut into chunks

Sweet Potato – 1 – scrubbed and cut into chunks

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 2 tbsp

Some Kitchen twine (I did not have any, I used regular thread)

Process:

Pre-heat the Oven to 200C

Drizzle some EVOO in a large roasting dish and add the baby potatoes, carrots, onions, carrots, garlic cloves and sweet potatoes, season them with salt and pepper, add a dash of mixed herbs, mix well and keep

Take the unsalted butter, add the mixed herbs, minced garlic, and season with salt and pepper, use a fork to mix it well and keep

Place the Chicken on a clean surface or on Kitchen towels, using a butter knife (I just used my hand), separate (do not cut through) the skin and the breast to have a hollow area and stuff 3/4^th of the herbed Butter inside, using the fingers over the skin stuff it in and smear it around, smear the rest of the Butter on top of the Chicken

Stuff the halved whole garlic and lemon into the big cavity of the Chicken

Use a Kitchen twine to tie the legs close to each other so that the stuffing in the cavity does not fall apart while roasting

Place the Chicken on the roasting dish over the vegetables and tuck the wings under the Chicken

Bake the Chicken for about an hour at 200C (if you have a meat thermometer, you can insert it in the thigh and checked if it has reached a temperature of about 75C, poultry should be cooked through if it has)

Let it rest for at least 10-15 minutes, before you carve it as if you try to slice it right then, all the juices will fall off and meat will dry out

I did not carve it beforehand, as it was just the two of us for dinner, I served it with some hard boiled eggs, a sautéed mushrooms side, some sweet red cherries and some Breezers – it was our best thanksgiving ever!