"Boyfriend Chicken"

In honor of the Oscars on Sunday and my girl Bethenny's return to bravo TV on Monday, I decided to make her version of "boyfriend chicken." She swears by this recipe as the perfect date night dinner to cook for your man, because it's impressive, simple and delicious...and the man she made it for is now her husband! Granted that night, I was making it for me, myself and I, but I figured I could make lovely leftovers with it for the week. Next time I'll make it for my boyfriend:) 

Here's the recipe below which I found on www.bethenny.com.  I varied the recipe with the ingredients I had in the cupboard and tweak it below.

Boyfriend Roast Chicken

Serves 4, or 2 plus leftover chicken for another meal

1 roast chicken, about 3 to 3-1/2 pounds

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 yellow onion, peeled and cut in half

½ carrot, cleaned and peeled

½ lemon

2 cloves smashed garlic (i used already minced garlic)

2 sprigs each fresh rosemary

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Rinse the chicken and pat it dry.  If the chicken has the giblets or neck inside, remove those and lightly season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper. Put half the onion, the carrot, celery, lemon, garlic, and fresh herbs inside the chicken.  Tie the legs together with twine. (i left the legs open) Slice the remaining onion and put it in a roasting pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Put the chicken on this bed of onions.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and melted butter.  Using a basting brush, brush every inch of the chicken with the oil-butter mixture.  Season the entire chicken with salt or garlic salt and pepper and bake on the middle rack for one hour and fifteen minutes. (I also add cayenne pepper for the extra zest and color for the crispy skin.) 

Halfway through I always baste the chicken with the juices from the bottom of the pan.

Turn up the oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook for another 20 minutes, or longer if your oven isn’t as hot or your chicken is a little bigger.  If the top still isn’t crispy, put the chicken under the broiler for a few minutes to completely brown it. You will know when the chicken is done when you pull at the leg and it feels ready to come off, and the juices run out clear and not pink when you pierce the skin with a knife.

Remove the chicken from the oven and cover it with foil.  Let it sit to set the juices for about 20 minutes. 

I roasted some asparagus with some olive oil and served yellow corn on the side. I thought the chicken turned out juicy and made for a great, easy dinner and lots of leftovers! All in all I'd give myself 3 1/2 Little Stars!

Happy Eating!

Little Star

oxox