Herb-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Last night, Ryan and I made a roast chicken for the first time. It ended up turning out really well, so we thought we'd share what we did.

We went to the U-District Farmers Market and bought some fresh herbs (thyme, sage, and rosemary), red potatoes, and green beans. Good stuff! Anyway, for our dinner, we decided to roast some potatoes and carrots with the chicken, and also have some green beans on the side. Other good vegetables to roast might be squash, zucchini, and artichoke hearts.

The oven should be pre-heated to 375 degrees. We used a 9x13 baking pan for the chicken. First we rinsed the chicken (make sure the inside is rinsed thoroughly) and patted it dry. Ryan lined the bottom of the pan with some sliced onions (cut into rings) and placed the chicken on top. We rubbed the chicken down with olive oil, melted butter, the fresh herbs, and some salt & pepper. Then we stuffed the chicken with onion, minced garlic, and some more herbs. After that, Ryan tied the chicken's legs together and pinned the neck skin.

We cut up the potatoes and carrots, then blanched them. After that, we tossed them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. We arranged the potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the pan around the chicken. Then we roasted the chicken in the oven until its internal temperature was 180 degrees. Once the chicken was done, we took it out of the oven, covered the pan with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes.

While the chicken was resting, we steamed the green beans. It took about 5-8 minutes. We tossed the green beans with butter, garlic salt, and salt & pepper. Then it was time to eat!

The chicken was delicious, but the potatoes and carrots might have been even better. The potatoes were a little crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the carrots were really nice and sweet. We kind of pigged out and ended up eating all of the potatoes and carrots last night. Mm-mm!