The Perfect Roast Chicken and What it Can Do for You

I believe that the virtues of the roast chicken are highly understated. A roast chicken opens up doors for a miriad of dinners throughout the week. If you roast a chicken you can make chicken stock and in turn any number of chicken soup variations. You can use the left over chicken for chicken salad or open faced chicken sandwiches. This is all not to mention the fact that serving a roast chicken whether it be for 2 or 10 makes for a seriously impressive presentation with little effort. On average a whole young roasting chicken is $4-8, and worth every penny. You'll pay about $8 for an already roasted chicken and they're usually small and dry. Please America--go roast a chicken. You will thank me for it.
How to Roast a Chicken (the easy and fuss free way)
Any optional step or ingredient is starred**
Take your roasting chicken and put it in the sink, cut away the wrapped and trim off any overhanging butt or neck skin. Let your chicken hang out and air dry a bit while you work on the rest. Take some fresh sage* and mince it finely, add this to half a stick of softened butter and a pinch of salt and pepper, mix well. Cut a lemon* and a head of garlic in half. Chop a few carrots*, celery* and an onion. Throw these into a large glass pan. Take your chicken and place it breast side up on top of the veggies. Take your fingers and loosen the skin--rub the butter under the skin and rub the left over on the skin. Drizzle a little olive oil onto the chicken and a little salt and pepper. Tuck the wings under the body and then, with some twine or a strip of foil, and truss the legs together. Pour a cup of water into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan into a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. Then bump the heat to 375 and roast until the juices run clear (about another 15 min per pound of chicken). I place a probe thermometer into the chicken while it roasts, but it's not necessary.
Then serve up your chicken! You don't have to use the sage, but it smells amazing. You can substitute thyme, rosemary or just plain fresh flat leaf parsley. This is just a method, you can do hundred if not thousands of variations on this basic principle.
I made this tonight and served it with garlic parmesan mashed potatoes and peas. Yummy yummy!