Chicken mettle

It was in one of my trips to a weekend market when I caught sight of this whole roasted chicken with lemon and rosemary that I thought of serving it for dinner later that evening. I balked at the price of P400 per fowl. I'm sorry, but I really thought it was too much for a simple roasted chicken, regardless of how it was perfectly cooked and browned all over and how elegant it would look on my dinner table. I thought to myself that I could cook my own chicken and for much less the price at which this rosemary chicken was being sold.

And so I sauntered off with this challenge in mind and bought the necessary ingredients for my own rosemary chicken.

The oven was preheated first hand at 350 degrees C. After washing the chicken inside and out and drying it with a paper towel, I sprinkled salt and pepper inside and out as well. Then, I carefully loosened the skin off the breast until it reached half of each leg, making sure it doesn't tear. I did the same thing on the back side. It's a bit more difficult to loosen it up here, so I didn't push it and loosen as much skin as I can.

In between that skin and meat, I put dots of butter every few centimeters, and chopped fresh rosemary. I placed a few lemon slices in the cavity and brushed the outer skin with extra virgin olive oil. Then, I placed the chicken on the roasting rack settled on a pan to catch the drippings and placed it in the oven, lowering the temperature to 250degrees. Every now and then though, I continue to brush olive oil on the chicken and around 15 minutes before it is completely cooked, I turned the chicken over to level off the browning. I suppose if I had a proper rotisserie, my chicken would evenly brown, but I was quite happy with the results I got after an hour of roasting at a steady low temperature. I believe the brushing of oil and the lower temperature rendered a crispy brown skin while retaining moisture and flavor of the meat. And the aroma was heavenly - the mixture of rosemary and lemons in the air stirred some anticipation for the dinner to come.

A simple and elegant dinner of roast chicken was perfectly paired with a light salad and some starch.

In our case, it was rice, but I think it would equally pair well with oven roasted potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper and a brushing of olive oil. A glass of wine added a sparkle to the feast.

After putting such a meal together without much hassle, it occurred to me that any woman who can put together a roast chicken dinner is indeed a lady of her own house. If you don't have your own recipe for roast chicken, I believe the above Lemon-Rosemary Chicken is as much yours as it is mine. And it'll just probably cost you around P270 based on grocery prices.