I learned something about chicken with this recipe. I’ve made whole chickens many times, but I never realized how different the cooking times were according to the weight. I guess that’s because the chickens I’ve used have all been roughly the same size.
This was almost a five-and-a-half pound chicken, and I tried to cook it for the same amount of time I’ve cooked my three-and-a-half pound chickens. When I pulled it out of the oven the first time, Dennis said, “It’s. . .still bleeding.” Sure enough, there was still blood around the back of the chicken, whereas if it were finished, it would have just been clear juices.
When I checked Google, it seems the general consensus was you should leave a chicken in the oven at 350°F for 20 minutes per pound of chicken. Good to know going forward.
This was a really good chicken recipe. . .the only thing about it was that while it was in the oven, the smell was so strong, it caused eye-watering. The smell wasn’t bad. . .just very, very strong. We had to open the front and back doors to get the air flow going so we could breathe normally. However, this was declared the “best chicken I’d made yet,” so there’s that.
Lemon-Dijon Chicken with Potatoes
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/3 cup parsley
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
3 Tbsp. olive oil
6 stalks rosemary, 4 of them with rosemary removed from stem
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 whole chicken
3-5 red potatoes, diced into large pieces
Not pictured, but also needed: 1 onion, quartered
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine parsley, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, salt, 4 stemmed rosemary pieces, and 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a small bowl. Blend well. Set aside in a smaller bowl 3 Tbsp. of this mixture.
Put 1/2 of the onion and 2 stalks rosemary inside the chicken. Place in baking pan. Rub the parsley mixture ( minus the 3 Tbsp.) on the outside of the chicken. Put in the oven for 30 minutes.
While the chicken’s in the oven, toss the potatoes and the other half of the onion, separated, with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Then, toss with the 3 Tbsp. of reserved parsley mixture. After the 30 minutes is up, take the chicken out of the oven and arrange the potatoes and onions around the chicken.
Bake for another hour, or until juices run clear.
Let chicken stand 10 minutes before slicing.
