Lemon Pepper and Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Do you know why I love roasted chicken so much? Besides the fact that it tastes so good, roast chicken is very easy to cook. I like hassle free cooking. And what could be more hassle free than roast chicken?

Chop! That chicken leg is mine!

This month's Cook Like a Star features Paula Deen and I didn't know who she was until I saw her on Masterchef US. Paula Deen comes across as very folksy, friendly and warm. So I took some time to check out her recipes and as you would expect, I jumped at this roast chicken recipe.

Is this sexy or what?

The recipe calls for lemon pepper seasoning. I am not familiar with this seasoning and I am sure it is available at Cold Storage. But don't expect this stingy madam to spend extra money as I am pretty sure this stuff is imported and expensive. So......when you are stingy you become very innovative hah...hah...hah....What I did was I mixed sea salt, lemon zest and black pepper. Meet my homemade lemon pepper seasoning.

Sea salt, lemon zest and black pepper. The cheapskate's version of lemon pepper seasoning.

The original recipe is pretty straight forward. What you need to do is sprinkle salt in the cavity of the chicken and then stuff it with lemon, garlic and rosemary. Then stuff two sprigs of rosemary under the chicken skin and rub the entire chicken with butter. Lastly, sprinkle with the precious lemon pepper seasoning. Easy, right?

I love garlic!

But you know me. I like to be a busybody and mess around with other people's recipe. I removed the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and minced them finely. My motive was to preserve the stems for planting because I spent RM1.99 for one sprig of rosemary. You see, from RM1.99 you can grow one rosemary plant. I am probably a long lost descendant of Haji Bakhil (Asian version of Uncle Scrooge).

I mixed the minced rosemary, butter, crushed garlic and my homemade lemon pepper seasoning. Then I rubbed this mixture all over the chicken and stuffed some under the chicken skin. And for better presentation, I tied the legs together before I placed the chicken into the oven.

Quite honestly, when the chicken was roasting away, I did not like the smell at all. The butter smell was very strong and I was quite apprehensive. But as time passed by, it started to smell pretty good. 

After resting the chicken, I pulled off the wing. Wow! It was delicious! The wing tip was so crispy that I chewed on it. Crunch, crunch, crunch....I pulled off another wing. I could eat the whole chicken! Which reminds me of an old story. When I was in secondary school, I made a deal with my mum. If I scored 100% for my math exam, I want one whole roast chicken to myself. I can't remember if I scored my math paper but I am very certain I didn't get the chicken.

This roast chicken is best served hot from the oven or warm. I don't mind eating roast chicken at room temperature and I have done so lots of times especially the roast chicken from the chicken rice stall. But for me, when this particular roast chicken has cooled down, it doesn't taste as good. Whatever it is, I am glad that I tried this recipe. This is my first time roasting a chicken with so much butter and you can be sure that it won't be the last!

Lemon Pepper and Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Recipe source : Adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients :

- One whole chicken, cleaned and pat dry.

- 1 stem Rosemary, leaves separated and finely minced.

- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced or crush using garlic press

- 2 heads garlic, cut across into halves

- 1 lemon, halved

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning* (see my concoction below)

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 180C

2. Mix butter, minced rosemary, minced garlic and lemon pepper seasoning.

3. Stuff lemon halves and one stem of rosemary inside chicken cavity.

4. Carefully separate skin from breast meat and stuff some of the butter under the skin.

5. Rub the entire chicken with the butter.

6. Place chicken on a lined roasting tray and place the garlic halves beside the chicken.

7. Roast for 60 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and and juices run clear.

*Lemon Pepper Seasoning (for stingy people like me who refuse to buy the one at the supermarket)
- 1 tablespoon sea salt or whatever salt you use
- zest from one lemon
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Just mix all the 3 ingredients together.

I'm linking this post to Cook Like a Star, an event co-hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Diana of Kitchen Goddess Wannabe. The featured chef for the month is Paula Deen.

This post is also linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Jozelyn Ng of Spice Up My Kitchen.