The Whole Bird 

These recipes can be adapted for all whole birds form turkey to cornish game hens..

Recipes


Rosemary Lemon Chicken (Good!)

1 5-6 pound roasting chicken
2 large lemons
1 bunch fresh rosemary (or use dried leaves)
olive oil
salt pepper
2 pounds small red potatoes
2 packages 9 oz frozen green beans, thawed and drained (I use fresh, sometimes canned)

Prep time: Start 3 hours before you want to serve this.

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove giblets and neck from chicken, reserve for something else. Rinse chicken, drain and pat dry. Working with chicken breast side up, fold wings toward neck, then fold up and under back of chicken so they stay in place.
  2. Cut lemon in half, squeeze enough juice from one half of lemon to make one tablespoon, cut remaining lemons into large chunks (I have used reconstituted lemon juice and substituted limes for the chunks of lemon with no problem)
  3. Place lemon chunks and 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp. dried) inside body cavity of chicken. With string, tie legs and tail together. Insert meat thermometer into thickest part of meat between breast and thigh (I don't do this) being careful not ot touch thermometer to bone. Place chicken, breast side up, on rack just large enough to hold chicken in large open roasting pan (I just put it in a bigger, metal roasting pan! Metal seems to work better than glass, more juices)
  4. In a cup, mix 2 tbs. fresh minced rosemary (or 2 tsp. dried), 2 tbs. olive oil, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. With a pastry brush, brush chicken with mixture.
  5. If freezing before cooking.. freeze here and continue on after defrosting...
  6. Cut each potato in half. Place potatoes around rack in roasting pan, drizzle with the 1 tbs. lemon juice and 3 tbs. olive oil and sprinkle with 3/4 tsp. salt and 3/4 tsp. pepper. Toss to coat well.
  7. Roast chicken in 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting chicken and potatoes with pan drippings occasionally. When chicken turns golden, cover loosely with a tent of foil.
  8. Add green beans to roasting pan, toss with potatoes. Roast 1 hour longer, basting chicken and veggies occasionally with pan drippings, or until meat thermometer reaches 175 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit ( I find the times to be pretty reliable, add 15 more minutes if you want to be extra sure). Remove foil during last of roasting and brush chicken again with pan drippings for attractive sheen (this chicken is GORGEOUS!)
  9. To Freeze after cooking package date and freeze.. defrost and continue warm in microwave.
  10. To serve, place chicken on large platter, remove string. Arrange potatoes and green beans around chicken. Garnish with rosemary before serving.
Makes about 8 servings. 465 calories per serving. From Good Housekeeping Magazine Sept. 1988.

Notes: This chicken is beautiful, easy, and also easy to cook in quantity. If you are going to make one for a special dinner, why not make a bunch?

recipe listing above......... Kitchen Recipe Box

Forbidden City Chicken

best of Junior League cookbooks
serves 4

3/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
2 small broiler chickens, split or 1 whole chicken (small)
sesame seeds

Arrange chicken halves skin side up in one layer in a baking pan. In a bowl, mix together everything but the sesame seeds. Spread the mixture over the chicken and chill for one hour

To Freeze: Freeze it at this point. Remember, if you are freezing this raw, you must use FRESH chicken, not frozen, defrosted chicken!

To Serve: Thaw chicken in the refrigerator

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over the chicken and bake uncovered for one hour until chicken is golden (more time will probably be needed for a whole chicken)

Note: If substituting chicken breasts (2 whole boneless skinless breasts) may have to cover loosely to avoid drying out and would require less time. This would be great on chicken breast and grilled on the BBQ!

recipe listing above......... Kitchen Recipe Box

Orange Sticky Chicken Robbyn's Style

Recipe By :Robbyn Snider
Serving Size  : 6
Spice Mix for 1 Chicken

1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
2 teaspoons Paprika
1 1/3 tablespoons Salt
1 Large Roasting Chicken
1 Large Orange

Place rinsed and prepared chickens in zip bags and sprinkle spice mix over the chicken. Rub bag to make it even.. Put chicken in fridge over night Next day (12-24 hours later), remove chickens from fridge and fill cavity with a whole orange cut into chunks. Put in large roaster with as deep of sides as possible and roast chicken 5 hours at 250F. After juices have formed (apx. 1.5 hours) begin basting ever 30 min or so.

To Freeze.. This can be frozen with just the spice rub on before cooking, but I prefer to make several of these and cook them completely and freeze fully cooked. Simply bag and freeze.  Warm in the microwave before serving.

This is soooo good!!! my kids devoured the entire chicken we served for dinner!

Notes: To make this with chicken parts. They take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to cook. Place the chicken on top of a bed of sliced or chunked oranges. You might need more than one orange.

recipe listing above......... Kitchen Recipe Box

Roast Sticky Chicken (from busy cooks)

Recipe By : Lynn Nelson
Serving Size  : 6
Spice Mix for 1 Chicken

4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 large roasting chicken -- as big as you can find
1 cup chopped onion .

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices. Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a resealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions, and place in a shallow baking pan. Roast, uncovered, at 250 degrees for 5 hours (yes, 250 degrees for 5 hours). After the first hour, baste chicken occasionally (every half hour or so) with pan juices. The pan juices will start to caramelize on the bottom of pan and the chicken will turn golden brown. If the chicken contains a pop-up thermometer, ignore it. Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.

To Freeze.. This can be frozen with just the spice rub on before cooking, but I prefer to make several of these and cook them completely and freeze fully cooked. Simply bag and freeze.  Warm in the microwave before serving.

Notes : This recipe is a great way to roast a large chicken for planned leftovers. It is reminiscent of those rotisserie style chickens that are so popular now, and it is very easy to make. The meat comes out very moist and flavorful, so it is as good leftover as freshly cooked. Please try it and you will never roast chicken any other way. You need to start this the night before serving.
recipe listing above......... Kitchen Recipe Box


 
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