Ina's Perfect Roast Chicken

When I grow up, I want to be Ina Garten. Is she not so fab?? Everything she touches is gold, and I have yet to meet a recipe of hers that doesn't kill. One of my go-to recipes of hers that I can always, always count on is her Perfect Roast Chicken. It's worth doubling, if only to reserve the meat for a future use. I have bags of shredded, deboned chicken in my freezer, ready to go for all kinds of recipes that call for it. Rotisserie chicken on sale at Sam's? Snatch it up, shred it, freeze it. Throw it in quesadillas with pesto and mozzarella, make chicken enchiladas with it, use it for chicken salad, etc, etc. But I digress...

One thing that You might wonder about is the fennel. Girl. It's the best part. If you have not tried roasted fennel, you are missing out. Roasted fennel is so sweet and it perfectly compliments the onions, carrots (or potatoes if you wish, as I did in the photo above). If you're like, "I wouldn't know a fennel if it hit me in the head," let me introduce you:

If you're like, "how the heck do I cut into that ugly thang?", here's a lovely tutorial from bon apetit. So there. No excuse not to at least try it. If yo're not a fan, then pick around it and don't use it next time. Now on to that chicken....

Ingredients

• 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
• 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges or slices
• Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.