Roast Chicken w/ Sage Butter & Garlic

I make a roast chicken most Friday nights for dinner (just call me Ina!).
I love to have leftovers for Saturday's lunch, and I make the same tried and true recipe for years.

This recipe from Olives and Oranges cookbook was one of Saveur Magazine's favorite ways to roast a bird.

You make a sage and garlic butter and rub it underneath the skin of the bird.
I usually use olive oil and stuff the bird with herbs, but this method was delicious!

I always buy a kosher chicken, which I have found to be so much tastier than a regular chicken. I think they are saltier too. The bed of roasted carrots and onions didn't hurt either. Loved it all.



The only thing I changed was the cooking temperature.
The authors want you to roast the bird at 475F then turn the oven down to 400F.
I kept my oven at an even 425F, and the bird came out perfect.

Roast Chicken w/ Sage Butter & Garlic (adapted from Saveur):

4-lb. chicken
zest of a lemon (save the lemon for the inside of the chicken)
20 fresh sage leaves
3 cloves garlic
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
8 sprigs parsley
olive oil
2 small onions quartered
2 carrots, cut into 2" pieces

Make the butter:

Rinse chicken under cold water; pat dry with paper towels. Add the lemon zest, sage, and garlic together; place in a bowl. Add butter and 1 tsp. salt. Stir to combine. Quarter the peeled lemon; set aside.

Using your fingers or a small, sharp knife, loosen skin of chicken from breasts and thighs. (Make sure your chicken skin has been blotted and dried w/ paper towels or the butter will slip off the skin).



Slip butter mixture between skin and flesh, spreading it evenly. Rub skin with olive oil; season skin with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Stuff with quartered lemon, parsley, and 1 quartered onion. Tie legs together with kitchen twine, if you like.

Put remaining quartered onion and carrots into center of roasting pan and place chicken on top of them.




Roast chicken about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165°.
Transfer chicken to a platter; let rest for 10 minutes before carving.



Enjoy!