On Saturday, Paul and I had bought a large organic chicken from the market with intentions of making a scrumptious meal. Of course we were too worn out from our day of volunteering (yes, we woke up at 7:30am on a Saturday to truck to middle-of-nowhere Brooklyn to plant flowers and paint murals at a local school:) that we didn't quite get to cooking on Saturday. It worked out for the best though, because it is always more enjoyable to cook on Sunday somehow...maybe it's because of the inherent laziness associated with the day of rest or the way we seem to put life on slow pause to keep Monday from coming...
After a fully unproductive, gorgeous day, I decided it was time to get cooking. I chopped up some green pepper, portobello mushrooms, capellini onions and fresh garlic. I seasoned all this with salt, pepper and cilantro flakes and stuffed it into the chicken. The remaining vegetables were sprinkled around the side along with some fingerling potatoes. Rounding out the flavor, I added some fresh lemon juice for a citrus flair. Lastly, I drizzled some olive oil over the whole lot before nestling it in the oven at 350.
I have boiled a whole chicken to make chicken soup before (as you all know from my earlier post), but this was the first time I had baked one in the oven (let alone one stuffed with tasty veggies). I looked up a few tips online and everything said it would take about 1.5 hours or so. This chicken was either stubborn or just incredibly large...but it took about 2.5 hours.
The 10 minutes allotted for cooling could not possibly go fast enough for my fiercely growling belly. Once it was ready for slicing, I couldn't wait for a taste! Juicy, succulent and just plain GOOD, I was wrapped up in the flavor... It could have been the hunger pains talking, but it tasted sooo yummy it was like instant euphoria. The vegetables had soaked up all the chicken juices, the potatoes were cooked superbly and somehow the green pepper still retained a tiny bit of crunch...perfection.
It takes a long time to bake a whole chicken, but I have to say it is one of the easiest dishes to make that is packed with such an abundance of flavor! My only recommendations are to to definitely buy organic (the flavor difference is distinctly noticeable) and give yourself plenty of time. This is definitely not a rush-job sort of meal...
I am already looking forward to cooking this again, although I need to raise the bar a bit, so I might try baking a duck next time!
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