I love the flavors of orange and lemon with Rosemary .. especially in the cold of winter when I want to add some sunshine to my life! I also love chicken ... especially chicken that comes from my favorite fresh meat market ... that has specifically not been pumped full of anything to make it grow fatter or roast juicier.
Today, I filled the cavity of this little bird with a lemon and an orange ... each quartered ... and a big sprig of Rosemary, which I harvest in the summertime and freeze so I have it all winter! I also juiced another lemon and spritzed it all over the chicken. I added pepper and roasted the chicken at 375 degrees for an hour and ten minutes. Typically, you need to roast a whole chicken for 20 minutes per pound at this temperature ... and always add about 15 minutes to the roasting time, if you've stuffed the cavity. I want my chicken to be tender and moist ... and always done so there is nothing pink oozing out.
During the last thirty minutes of roasting ... I added a few mushrooms and spears of asparagus. It only takes about 20 minutes for the vegetables to roast, so don't let them get too soft! Serve the meat with a drizzle of the pan juices! How easy is that to do?
P.S. Here's a good way to use leftover chicken and asparagus! I made a few tortilla rolls. I almost always have a package of flour tortillas, so that's what I used ... plain ones, but flavors would have been good, too.
I spread room temperature cream cheese on the tortilla, then topped it with sliced grape tomatoes and chopped chicken. I included an asparagus spear ... then rolled the tortillas. They are always easier to cut, if you refrigerate them for awhile. We snacked on ours ... with a little Chex Cereal Mix ... which is a staple at our house, this time of year!
