What's The Matter...Chicken?

It's been awhile since I've had a recipe on the site. To be honest, it's been awhile since I've had much of anything on the site. Below is my roasted chicken recipe.

Kyle's Roasted Chicken

1 full roasting chicken (organic, if you want to be cheeky)
4 strips favorite bacon
Herb Butter (recipe below)
salt and pepper

Herb Butter
12 tablespoons(stick and a half) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons fresh sage, finely chopped
4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
(Note: The herbs don't necessarily have to be the ones above. I've made this butter dozens of times and I don't use the same combination. This happens to be the most recent way I've made it.)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
zest of a lemon
pinch of salt and pinch of pepper

Put the butter in a mixing bowl. Add sage, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, and salt and pepper and mix. I like to use my hands to mix everything together. It is the most fun, but a spoon or spatula is sufficient as well.

Now to the chicken...

Wash and dry the chicken before preparing. Liberally season the inside and outside with salt and pepper. Using your fingers, separate the skin from the breast of the chicken. Make sure you don't rip it. Carefully push the herb butter under the skin and all the down the sides. You can definitely use all of the herb butter if you want. I usually save some to wipe over the skin as well.

Quarter the lemon you used for the herb butter and stuff it in the cavity. You can get a little funky here. If you have some leftover herbs or garlic go ahead and throw them in there. Lay the 4 strips of bacon on top of the chicken.

I fold the wings under the body of the chicken so they don't get too over done. You can tie the legs in if you want; I usually don't. Transfer the chicken to a roasting tray.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Roast for an hour and 15 minutes. I usually take the bacon off at the 35 to 40 minute marker so it's still pretty edible, and continue to roast the chicken without it.

Nothing to fancy to this recipe. I call it "mine" because I believe I've bastardized enough of other people's recipes to get a unique bird :). That is the fun of roasted chicken or any time of cooking for that matter. Getting the basic ingredients, knowing your favorite ingredients, and applying a little improvization.