Roasting Chicken

There is nothing so perfect as a whole roasted chicken. To me it is the ultimate Sunday dinner. Something about it just screams family. The first step to roasting a wonderful chicken is ensuring crispy skin, while keeping the meat moist and tender, once you have perfected that you can start to play with the flavor. I still love my go to chicken recipe, based on the Barefoot Contessa's "Engagement Chicken", but I was in an allspice kind of mood and this was a wonderful change of pace. As a bonus I tossed in some zucchini and made this a lovely one dish meal.



Roast Chicken with Sherry and Allspice:
1 5-6 lb roasting chicken
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
3 medium onions
2 medium zucchini
1 tbsp of whole allspice
1/3 cup of sherry
1/2 cup of chicken stock
Salt, Pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rough chop the zucchini and onions, and toss in the bottom of a baking dish (reserving 2 or 3 pieces of onion) with salt and pepper and about a table spoon of olive oil. Wash the chicken, inside and out, then pat dry. salt and pepper the chicken inside and out. Stuff with the reserved onions, the garlic cloves (smashed slightly) and half the allspice. Sprinkle the remaining allspice through out the pan. Drizzle or rub the rest of the olive oil onto the chicken. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 and pour the sherry over the chicken. Bake for another 20 minutes then pour the stock over. Continue cooking until the popper pops up, basting the chicken stock occasionally with the juices from the pan, about 20 minutes per pound. Let rest 10 minutes before carving. Serve and Enjoy.

Happy Eating