A few years ago, I reached a point in my life when I finally had the time to teach myself how to cook. The hustle and bustle of school, work and professional ambition suddenly stopped and I found myself with a new baby, on a 1-year leave from law school. It was the first time in my adult life when every minute of the day did not seem filled. Most of my friends were busy with work or school and my infant was not exactly talking back to me. I needed something - other than the feedings, diaper-changing and laundry - to fill my time. I decided to teach myself how to cook and I set about researching and cooking all the meals that I thought a proper home cook should know how to prepare. How to roast a chicken was near the top of my list, but to a novice cook, it seemed like a daunting task. There was only one person to turn to.
In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child made the simple observation that:
"Modern poultry raising has done wonders in making it possible to grow a fine-looking chicken in record time and to sell it at a most reasonable price, but rarely does anyone in the country discuss flavor. If you are interested in price alone, you will often end up with something that tastes like the stuffing inside a teddy bear and needs strong dousings of herbs, wines and spices to make it at all palatable. A chicken should taste like chicken and be so good in itself that it is an absolute delight to eat."That was in 1961, but it seems to me equally salient in 2011. In the 1950s, it took 84 days to raise a five-pound chicken. Due to selective breeding and growth-promoting drugs, it now takes only 45 days. Since factory farms can get chickens to market that much faster, the cost per chicken has dropped precipitously - less than $1/lb for a whole chicken. Of course, confining these animals and injecting them full of hormones is neither a kind thing to do to a living being, nor does it result in a particularly tasty meal. So if you are thinking about eating chicken, take Julia's advice, and seek out a quality bird - preferably one that was vegetarian fed, and more humanely raised.
Now. How to Roast a Chicken.
There are a million different ways to roast a chicken. Julia's recipe - paraphrased and reprinted here - is elegantly simple and delicious, but it requires too much attention, hovering and basting for me to cook it with much regularity. One of the beautiful things about roasting a chicken (for me at least) is that I can invest 10 minutes of prep-time in the afternoon, stick the whole thing in the oven and for the most part forget about it for a solid hour and a half until dinner. This recipe is also a complete meal and I usually supplement it only with a simple green salad. If you don't have shallots, a red onion is a nice substitute - just make sure to cut it so that you leave the root end in tact. Once you get the hang of it, you can make endless substitutions and variations. Enjoy!
Simple Roast Chicken with Carrots, Red Potatoes and Shallots
1 4-lb free-range chicken
1 lemon, cut into wedges
4 garlic cloves, smashed
a few sprigs of fresh thyme, plus 2 tbs of fresh thyme chopped (or 2 tsp of dried thyme)
half a red onion, quartered
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 lbs small red potatoes, washed and scrubbed
2 lbs carrots, washed, peeled and cut into 2-inch long thick chunks
1 lb shallots, peeled with the root in tact
Special Equipment:
A roasting pan, or a large (8-qt) dutch oven
Kitchen twine
Meat thermometer
Step 1: Brine if you have the time. While this is an optional step, brining does make a big difference and does not require much time if you think ahead. Just take a large stock pot (roughly 8 qts) and dissolve a good amount of salt in cold water. Some times I add herbs, soy sauce, smashed garlic cloves, even molasses. Submerge the chicken and refrigerate. You can brine it for a couple hours, or overnight, but not more than 24 hrs. For more on brining, check out my post on how to cook a perfect Thanksgiving turkey and this video.
Step 2: Wash the chicken. Whether you brined your chicken or not, wash the exterior and cavity with cold water and pat dry.
Step 3: Stuff the chicken. Mix the lemon quarters, smashed garlic cloves, red onion and thyme sprigs in a small mixing bowl. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix. Then stuff the mixture inside the cavity of the bird. These are for aromatics - they will flavor the chicken as it cooks from the inside out. When the chicken is done cooking, just discard them.
Step 4: Truss the chicken. Trussing a chicken is a simple process by which the the wings and legs of the chicken are fastened to the body. It basically ensures that the bird cooks more evenly, preventing certain parts from drying out or burning. Trussing also makes for a pretty presentation and helps to hold in all the aromatics stuffed in the cavity. Although it seems fancy and complicated, trussing is really easy and will take you less than one minute once you know how to do it. While there are other ways to truss poultry, this method is the easiest that I have found as it does not involve flipping the bird.
Cut roughly 30 inches of twine. Always err on the side of caution and cut more than you think you need - you can always trim the ends when you are finished. Lay the chicken breast up on the cutting board with the legs facing you. Put the midpoint of the twine under the chicken, so that it runs under the wings (as if positioned under its armpits). 
Bring the ends up and wrap around the outside of the wings, pulling them tight against the body.
Pull the twine back toward you, so that it runs between the breast and the legs. Wrap the twine underneath the bone of the drumsticks and pull the legs together so that they touch. Tie them tightly. With the drumsticks elevated to the height of the breast, they will cook more evenly. 
Your trussed chicken should look something like this - compact and shaped something like a football. Cut any excess twine. You are ready to roast.
Step 5: Roast the Chicken. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine the nutmeg, 2 tbs of the chopped fresh thyme, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper. Note: because I brined my chicken, I am not adding much salt to the exterior of the bird. So, if you chose not to brine, you might want to increase the salt in the spice mix. Arrange the trussed chicken in your roasting pan and sprinkle half of the spice mixture over the bird. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes, carrots and shallots with 1 tbs of olive oil and the remaining spice mixture. Arrange the vegetables in the roasting pan around the chicken and pop the whole thing in the oven.
Roast for about an hour and 45 minutes, basting the chicken every 20-30 minutes with pan juices if you can remember to. Start taking the temperature of the bird after its been cooking for about an hour. It is done when your meat thermometer registers 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh (the breast will cook more quickly). Allow the chicken to rest for 10-15 minutes, covered with aluminum foil, on a cutting board or serving platter. Spoon the veggies into a bowl and pop them into the (turned off) oven to stay warm until it is time to eat. You can make a quick easy sauce from the pan juices if you want to, or just carve and serve!
Want to know what to do with the leftover carcass and bones? DO NOT THROW IT OUT!! Stay tuned for how to make chicken stock.
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