Herbed Roast Chicken

This recipe is the chicken I use for my chicken broth.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp basil

2 tsp marjoram (or if using ground marjoram, use only 1 tsp)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp thyme

3-5 lb roasting chicken

• preheat oven to 425 F
• if you like, fold wings of chicken across the back then skewer drumsticks to tail
• place chicken breast side up in roasting pan
• insert meat thermometer into thickest part of thigh so that it doesn't touch bone
• I cheat here and melt the butter, then mix the herbs into the butter before pouring over the chicken, but you may want to get a deeper flavor by mixing the herbs into soft butter and rubbing the chicken all over with it (pushing the butter between the skin and the breast), then go right ahead
• bake uncovered for 45 minutes
• decrease temperature to 375 F and back another 45 minutes to an hour until the thermometer reaches 180 F and chicken is done. The high temperature at the start is to brown the chicken (the butter will keep the chicken from drying out). Dropping the temperature in the second half of the roasting period will keep the meat cooking while keeping it moist. I rarely have trouble with chicken drying this way, but if it is a concern for you, cover the chicken for this last hour to hold the moisture.

I use the same herb mixture for turkey. For an 8 to 12 lb turkey, unstuffed, start the roast at 425 F for 1 hour, then drop the temperature down for the last 2 hours or until internal temperature of bird reaches 180 F.