The other day I was flipping through a cookbook, In the Green Kitchen, that I picked up at the library. (Side note: if you’re looking for ways to save a few bucks, take advantage of your local library. It’s one of my favorite ways to peruse cookbooks. Books are expensive!) So as I was saying, I was flipping through and saw a very simple recipe for roasted chicken. I thought it looked so easy, may be even too easy. Roasting a whole chicken seems so fancy – surely it must be something that only an experienced chef can or mom-extraordinaire could handle. But really, people have been eating whole chickens for centuries upon centuries so how hard can it be in 2011 with all of our modern technology and fancy kitchen gadgets to cook a bird? I decided to find out.

I don’t eat meat very often. In fact, I can count all the times I have eaten meat in the last year on less than one hand, but when I do eat meat, it’s local and organic; free of antibiotics and artificial hormones. I feel better when I eat plant-based foods, but every now and then I get a craving for meat and I listen to my body.

In the Green Kitchen by Alice Waters is the ideal book for explaining basic cooking techniques that range from washing lettuce (yes, there is a method used by the real professionals) to roasting and carving a chicken. Here is the recipe from In the Green Kitchen. On my quest to expand my culinary skills and step out of my comfort zone, this book has been a great coach.

So to summarize – roasting a whole chicken really is that easy! And just to overstate the obvious – it’s a whole food, people. And economically speaking, this bird was a bargain! The whole bird was just a hair over $9. That is way cheaper than the cost for boneless skinless chicken breast per pound.

Ingredients: (adapted from In the Green Kitchen)

One 3-pound chicken (serves 4-6)

Salt and freshly-ground pepper

3 potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

2 onions, peeled and quartered

2 celery stalks, thickly sliced

4 large shallots, peeled

Fennel, squash, turnips, parsnips

2 bay leaves

3 thyme sprigs

2-3 tablespoons butter

Directions: (adapted from In the Green Kitchen)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

My chicken was prepped at the store, but if yours isn’t, make sure you remove the wishbone. You do this by using a small knife at the top of the breast and scraping along the bone to expose it. Insert the knife and run it along the bone, separating it from the flesh. Use your finger to loosen it and then pull out the wishbone.

Tuck the wing tips back and under the neck.

For even roasting, tie the chicken with a cotton string. The chicken should be on its back with the breasts plumped up and legs tied together.

Season with salt and pepper.

Place the vegetables and herbs together in the bottom of a large pot and season with salt and pepper.

Set the chicken on top, dot with butter and roast uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes. You know the chicken is cooked when the juices run clear, not pink.

Serve family-style with the caramelized vegetables and juices from the pot on a platter and chicken pieces on top.

Carving a Chicken: (adapted from In the Green Kitchen)

Let the chicken sit for 10 minutes before you begin carving.

Cut and remove the strings.

Cut off the legs.

With the chicken on its back, use fingers to push apart the leg and breast. Use a knife to cut through the skin between the leg and breast, following the seam down to the joint.

Cut through the joint to release the ball of the leg bone from the socket.

To remove the breasts, use the knife to follow the rib bones down to the shoulder joint while lifting the breast away from the carcass and cutting through the wing joint.