Grapefruit Roast Chicken

The best part of this recipe for me is always the vegetables. Since they go under the chicken, but in an elevated roasting pan, they get almost crispy. The carrots shrink when they roast and get really sweet. The potatoes get crisp almost like potato chips if you cut them thin enough. The grapefruit is there to keep the chicken moist, but the juice seeps out onto the vegetables, making them tangy and sweet.

The second best part of this recipe is that it’s easier than falling off a log.  Anyone with opposable thumbs can do it.

• Whole roasting chicken
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

• A whole mess of fresh thyme, sage, bay leaves, and parsley leaves.
• 1 whole grapefruit (can sub lemon or orange)
• 1 head of garlic, cut in half

• 1 large yellow onion
• 4 carrots
• 2 baking potatoes
• any other root vegetables you like (I didn’t have any more root veggies, so I used a few mini squash, because they are cute.)
• Olive oil
• 2 T butter

Chop the vegetables and herbs and put them in the bottom of a roasting pan. Sprinkle some olive oil and make sure everything is lightly covered.

Get chicken ready to roast by removing the giblets, any remaining feathers and fat on the outside of the bird. Pat it dry with paper towels, and salt and pepper the inside and outside of the chicken. Stuff the chicken with grapefruit, all of the garlic, and the rest of the herbs.

Melt butter and brush it onto the chicken skin to make sure it’s brown and crispy. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken again, truss it if you like, and roast it at 425 for an hour and 20 minutes or so, or until juices run clear. Remove from oven, cover with aluminum foil for half an hour.