Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken

​It's day two of my Meyer Lemon cooking extravaganza.  I went back to Walmart and I bought two more bags of Meyer Lemons because I already have literally dozens of recipes that I want to make with them.  I spent some time searching the internet for Meyer Lemon recipes and I was absolutely giddy looking at all of the options for this juicy little fruit.  I felt like a kid in a candy store trying to decide which one to try first.  The winner - Meyer Lemon and Garlic Roasted Chicken from Food and Wine magazine.  I took quite a few liberties with the recipe so my chicken came out looking quite differently than the one pictured on the website.  

Lemon and Garlic Roasted Chicken
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
zest from 1 Meyer Lemon
salt and pepper
1 onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
5 cloves garlic, smashed
8 springs of fresh thyme
1 Meyer lemon sliced thinly
1/2 cup water

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​Rinse chicken and pat dry.

​Combine first 6 ingredients and rub under skin and on top of chicken.

​Place on a rack in a roasting pan, breast side up and place onion, garlic. lemon, thyme and water in the bottom of the pan. 

​Roast 30 minutes at 425, covered.

​Flip chicken over and roast 20 minutes longer without the lid on the pan.​  Remove the pan from the oven and place lemon slices on top.  Return to oven for 10 minutes. 

I made this chicken early in the afternoon, let it cool, wrapped it in foil and put it in the refrigerator.  After a particularly busy evening, I came home and warmed this chicken, threw together a Meyer Lemon vinaigrette salad and dinner was served.  I thought it had a nice bright lemony flavor but my family wasn't  a huge fan of the chicken.  They thought the texture of the chicken was a little "off" but I really think that it was a chicken issue and not a cooking issue.  On a positive note, I have lots of lemon chicken leftover to put in my salads for lunch next week.

Ciao!

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