A perfect roast chicken

It all started when Libby recommended us to get chickens from Ernst Farm, a local farmer that sells all-natural meats at the Farmers' Market. They rear chickens to order so we put in our order for two chickens in July and only picked them up last week. Libby says that they are the best chickens we will ever taste (because they get fed well, plenty of sunshine and fresh air, and basically get to chill out with their other buddies for two months...), and she's right. With this recipe I got from the Barefoot Contessa, this roast chicken was the best thing I have ever made. Ever. And I've NEVER said this before...

I know, you're going: 1) why roast your own chicken when you can get a fairly good tasting one from the store for $6? and 2) how good can roast chicken taste? First of all, there is something deeply satisfying and comforting about roasting your own chicken. Of course you can just run to the store to get that perfectly rotisserie-cooked chicken, and Jude & I do that all the time; but at the end of the day, nothing beats the smell of lemons, garlic and herbs slowly wafting through the house on a chilly, cloudy evening. Which brings me to No. 2: no roast chicken you buy from the store is going to taste like what I just made for dinner. And this has nothing to do with my cooking- it's all in the ingredients. For some strange, mystical reasons, something wondrous happens when you roast a chicken on top of carrots, onions and a head of fennel. For the first 40 minutes or so, the house smelled bright and citrusy from the lemon and herbs; but at some point after that, as the vegetables started caramelizing, the aroma evolved and deepened; it became almost spicy, rich and gloriously tantalizing. And all this without even opening the oven door!

And that's the one drawback of this recipe- how excruciating the wait is before your dinner is ready. An hour and a half to roast a chicken sounds pretty typical, but not when your whole house is smelling like an Italian trattoria. But it is soooooooo worth it. The chicken comes out crisp and golden on the outside, and moist and succulent on the inside (Jude observed that the chicken was not fatty at all and yet very tender; all thanks to the wonders of an all-natural upbringing, no doubt); it was the veggies that really surprised me though. The licorice flavor of the fennel developed into a delicious sweetness that was most unexpected and wonderful. I've never cooked with fennel before and now I'm wondering why not. The carrots and onions roasted into a divine golden brown, and guess what? This carrot-hater finished all her carrots :) And she loved them!

Really, dear readers of this blog, I beseech you; if you want to have the best roast chicken you will taste in a long while, you will go down to your nearest farmer's market and get yourself a free-range chicken and try this recipe out at home. Follow it to a T and I guarantee you a dinner to remember. Either that or you can invite yourself to our place- we have one more Ernst Farm chicken in our freezer, sitting there just full of promise and possibility... :)