Rosie Roasts Chicken.

Roast Chicken From October 8, 2011. I always have a hen or two or five in my freezer ready to whup up and roast for a nice supper then eat off of for the next few days - whether it be a chicken sandwich on whole wheat with a shmear of pesto and melted cheese or a chicken enchilada or burrito or a chicken salad with red seedless whole grapes (Don't cut the grapes. Makes for a watery chicken salad.) and toasted almonds. I took out a hen and let it thaw a few days in the fridge. then I roasted it. I wanted something a little different. Something to give my chicken a little extra pop. Something to keep it nice and moist. And I came up with a marinade.

Check this out. There were NO giblets in my chicken. And I love giblets. $2.60.

My hen basks, waiting for her rubdown.

Rosie's Marinade Ingredients: 1/4 cup oil 1/4 cup Tamari sauce 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup cilantro zest and juice of 1 lime (Stick zested and juiced lime inside chicken.) 4 garlic cloves, minced 2 inch long stick of ginger, juiced and minced I always use frozen ginger because you can nuke 1-inch frozen pieces for about 22 seconds, and you are able to juice it quite easily. 1/2 stick butter 1 long strip lemon grass, beaten to release essence 1 dried hot red pepper, crumbled with seeds. Combine all. Melt butter over low heat. Let barely simmer for 5 minutes. Cool. Pour over and inside chicken. Marinate for at least 2 hours, turning occasionally to distribute the marinade.

That long stringy thing is lemon grass. It's one of the few herbs that made it through Irene flooding.

Pour the marinade over top.

Marinate for about 2 hours or so, turning every now and then to cover.

For a little extra homemade flavor, I added a cup of my thawed out chicken consomme and 1 1/2 cups water to the marinade mixture.

Chicken jelly.

I had some of the consomme for lunch and it was a wonderfully complex, rich broth.

I put the chicken in a 450 degree oven and turned it down to 350. Check to see if you need to tent the bird with foil. I like a certain amount of blackening, which is what the sugar will give you, but you need to watch it. This almost 4 1/2 pound bird, was ready in 1 hour 20 minutes. I removed it from the oven and let it sit for another 10 minutes before carving.

Pretty!

Perfectly moist meat. Limey. Garlicy. Gingery. Cilantroey. Sweet. Succulent. This chicken stayed moist for days. Very nice for Moreovers.

Crunchy outside. Tender juicy inside.