Lemon Thyme Chicken

Directions

1. 1
   First prepare the herb butter by mixing 1 TBS of minced fresh thyme leaves, the zest of a whole lemon, 1 TSP of salt and 1 TSP of freshly ground pepper. Make sure the butter is room temperature before mixing, or else you're going to have a hard time. You can put the butter in the microwave and heat it up at 15 seconds, checking on it every time, to soften it. Once you have the butter done, put it aside and proceed with separating the skin from the breast with a spoon. Go slowly making sure not to break the skin in the process. Stuff the herb butter on each side once you're done and smooth the butter flat underneath the skin by press your fingers against it.
2. 2
   You will want to generously salt and pepper the inside of the cavity with about 1 TSP of each. Give the inside a good rub to make sure it is properly seasoned. Pat the chicken dry with some paper towels, this allows the wet rub to stay on the chicken.
3. 3
   Next we'll move onto making the wet rub for the chicken. Grab a pestle and mortar and add 2 sliced garlic cloves, 2 TBS of fresh thyme leaves, the zest of a whole lemon, 2 TSP of salt, and 1 TSP of pepper. Grind the ingredients until it looks like a thick past, add the juice of half a lemon and continue grinding until it is smooth. Pour in 1 TBS of oil, stir until it is incorporated and spoon it over the chicken. If you do not have a pestle and mortar, you mince the garlic, lemon, thyme and then have it sit in the oil with the rest of the seasonings for 15 minutes before rubbing it on the chicken.
4. 4
   Chop the vegetables roughly, and mix them with the seasonings in the roasting pan. You don't need too much oil, as you already have the oil and butter from the chicken dripping down.
5. 5
   Stuff the chicken with a couple cloves of garlic, thyme sprigs and lemon wedges. Then tie the legs up and place it on the vegetables. Place two bay leaves underneath the chicken and put everything into a pre-heated 375F oven, for 1.5 hours or until an internal temperature of 180F at the thickest part of the chicken.
6. 6
   If you're not sure if the chicken will be thoroughly cooked, you can start the roast with the back of the chicken facing up for about 40 minutes, flip it over and finish it for about 1 hour or so. Piercing the thickest part of the chicken and seeing if the juice is running clear is a good way to tell if it's done. Or a crazier method would be to get a paring knife and stick it the thickest part of the chicken for a couple of seconds, take it out and see if the tip of the knife is hot against inside part of your arm.
7. 7
   Once your chicken is thoroughly cooked through, take it of the oven and put aside to rest. Pour the drippings into a sauce pan, if you used a cast iron pan take everything off and put it on the stove over medium to medium low heat. Skim the fat of the drippings and add a TBS of flour to thicken the gravy. Whisk the flour for a minute or so, and then add any other juices from chicken as well as the some lemon juice from the roasted chicken. Make sure to add the lemon juice in small portions so it doesn't get too tart. Give a splash of water or chicken stock, and season to taste with salt and pepper.