Roast chicken with Lemon and Herbs

This recipe comes from the book that Kim mentioned with the Bistro-Style Chicken with Red Wine: 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know by Glamour (it comes with a whole story about how nearly every woman who makes it for their significant other ends up engaged - I just thought it sounded tasty). I never seem to get chicken (other meat too, but chicken in particular) to cook in the amount of time it says, so be prepared to add some extra roasting time. Also, unless you really like garnish, you could skip most if not all of it. Maybe pick the thyme or the rosemary, depending on your tastes. But the lemons inserted into the cavity do create a lovely infusion of lemon throughout the chicken. And it is tasty.

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Herbs (aka Engagement Chicken)

1 whole chicken (approximately 4 pounds)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 whole lemons (including 1 sliced for garnish)
1 tablespoon kosher or coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
Fresh herbs for garnish:
4 rosemary sprigs
4 sage sprigs
8 thyme sprigs
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley

1 Position an oven rack in the uper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400oF. Remove the giblets from the chicken, wash the chicken inside and out with cold water, the let the chicken drain, cavity down in a colander for 2 minutes.

2 Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place the chicken breast-side down in a medium roasting pan fitted with a rack and pour the lemon juice all over the chicken, both inside and out. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper inside and out.

3 Prick 2 whole lemons threee times each in three different places with a fork and place them deep inside the cavity. Chicken cavity size may vary, so if one lemon is partly sticking out, that's fine. (Tip: If the lemons are stiff, roll them on the countertop with your palm before pricking to get the juices flowing.)

4 Put the chicken in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350oF, and roast, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

5 Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Using tongs or two wooden spoons, turn the chicken breast-side up. Insert a meat thermometer in the thight, and return the chicken to the oven and roast for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 180oF and the juices run clear when the thigh is pricked with a fork. Continue roasting if necessary. Keep in mind that cooking times in different ovens vary; roasting a chicken at 350oF takes approximately 18-20 minutes per pounds, plus an additional 15 minutes.

6 Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving. And here's the secret: Pour the juices from the roasting pan on top of the sliced chicken - this is the "marry me juice." Garnish with fresh herbs and lemon slices.