Meal #1 - Roasted Chicken

This is the first meal of The Aldi 25 experiment.  What is The Aldi 25 experiment?  Click HERE to find out.

The tally for this meal is as follows:
Chicken - $6.16
2 pounds potatoes - $0.99
1/2 bag green beans - $0.75
Dressing - $0.69
2 lemons - $0.66
1/2 onion - $0.19
---------------------------------------------
$9.44 (or $1.57 per serving)

Learning how to properly roast a chicken is essential for any cook at any level.  There are plenty of people who think the only way to get a deliciously cooked whole bird is to stop by the deil and get a rotisserie bird.  For convenience's sake, sure, that's fine.  Not very economical though.  And it's really easy.

Let's talk trussing.  Do you truss your poultry?  You should.  The bird will cook evenly and even a little faster.  The point of trussing is to take something that has wings and legs sticking out at all angles and making it into one nice, round ball of meat that's much easier to cook.  Well, it's true.

This is how I truss my birds.  No strings here.  Instead make a small cut in that flap of skin just past the cavity opening and just below the drumstick.  You want the cut to be slightly smaller than the end of the opposite drumstick so when you stick it through it will hold it in place.  It takes a little practice but it beats having to tie up the legs with string and then unraveling the sting after cooking.

Lemon Pepper Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, 5-6 pounds
2 lemons, cut into 1/8ths
1/2 (or less) onion, coarsely diced
Lemon Pepper seasoning blend
Oil (olive or vegetable)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken.  Remove bag of innards also (discard or save for later use).  Place chicken in a small roasting pan or a 9x13-inch pan.

Sprinkle cavity rather liberally with Lemon Pepper seasoning or salt and pepper.  Stuff cavity with lemons and onion. Truss bird and tuck wings behind the back.  Liberally coat the chicken with approximately 2 tablespoons of oil.  Sprinkle with Lemon Pepper seasoning.

Place in oven, uncovered, and roast 20 minutes per pound.  Bast with additional oil every 30 minutes until enough juice have accumulated in the pan to use the juice for basting.  Sprinkle with additional Lemon Pepper as needed.

Cook until internal temperature of the inner thigh reaches 170 degrees F. Remove from oven and cover with a tent of foil.  Let the bird rest at least 15 minutes before carving.

To serve first remove both leg quarters and use a carving knife to separate the drumstick.  Place on platter.  Using a carving knife and a serving fork remove both breast portions.  Cut each in half width-wise and place those four pieces on the platter.

Click HERE for a printable version of this recipe. To stretch your dollar even farther save the carcass for making homemade stock. I served mine with 2 pounds of red potatoes (washed and cut into 1-inch pieces) and 1/4 of an onion (diced).  Place in 9x13-inch pan and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil.  Apply salt and pepper, to taste.  Place in oven when there is about and hour left in the chicken's cooking time.  Place pan on the lowest oven rack.  When the chicken has about 20 minutes left add 1/2 a bag of green beans to the pan with the potatoes.  Drizzle with a little extra oil and stir to combine.  Return to oven.  Remove both the chicken and the vegetables at the same time.  While the chicken rests prepare the dressing by following the package directions.

That's all there is to it.