Roasted Chicken!

Okay, roasting a chicken might seem really intimidating, but I promise you can do it.  Even better, spatchcocking (or butterflying) a chicken is super therapeutic--there's just something about cutting out a spine and breaking a breastbone that makes one feel like Super Woman.

A 4-pound chicken will serve 3-4 people.  Most chickens I've seen are closer to 7 pounds.  I find it's good to roast a chicken every week, or every other week.  I can eat the chicken until I'm sick of it, and then freeze the remainder for meals in another week.  I also save the bones to make bone broth (another conversation for another day).

Now, to the good stuff.

Ingredients:

1 5-7 pound chicken
4 cloves garlic
2T olive oil
herbs of your choice, or a couple lemons
salt and pepper to taste

Important Tips:

Uncooked chicken is one of those things that is really capable of spreading bacteria, so make sure you have all the tools you need nearby so you aren't leaving uncooked chicken juice all over your kitchen as you search for stuff.

Unwrap your chicken over the sink. There may be a packet of entrails inside the cavity.  Remove it (you can cook and eat it, save it in the freezer for soup or something, feed the non-bony parts to a pet, or toss it).

Directions:

Using your kitchen shears (or a strong pair of dedicated kitchen scissors) remove the spine by cutting up both sides of the spine from the tailbone to the neck cavity.  Then turn the chicken over, laying it out flat, and press down on the breastbone until you feel it crack.  The goal with spatchcocking is to make the chicken as flat as possible to cut down on the cooking time.

When your chicken is flat, bend the wing tips behind the shoulders so they don't burn.  You could also cut the wings off at the elbows with your scissors.

Once your chicken is flat, you're ready for seasoning.  Chop your garlic and herbs.  Mix them with the olive oil, and rub them under the skin of the chicken.  You'll probably have to detach some of the connective tissue between the meat and the skin to get it under there -- that's okay.  Rub any remaining oil on the skin itself.  Salt and pepper the skin if desired.

Depending on the herbs you're using, you could also slice a lemon and place the slices on the skin.

Cook the chicken in a 450°F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400°F and cook until the skin is golden and a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 165°F, approximately 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let chicken rest 10 minutes before serving.