What's For Dinner? Lemon-Herb Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy

I love cooking a whole chicken.  It really is not that difficult and a whole chicken is the cheapest way to buy chicken.

I found this recipe on Campbell's Kitchen a few weeks back and we really liked it.  I want to point out that we don't like everything, I just don't post the recipe when it totally flops, which happens every once in awhile.  And I am slightly risk adverse when I pick recipes.  There have been many times when I pick something that is outside my comfort zone, purchase all the ingredients, and then spend weeks talking myself into actually making it.  Every time this has happened dinner turns out to be fantastic.

This is not one of those recipes but it is pretty good.

Here we go.

This is what you need:
1 lemon
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves or 1 tsp dried rosemary leaves (I used dry)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme leaves (I used dry)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 roasting chicken (5 to 7 pounds)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup water

Roast the chicken in a preheated 325 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the gravy.

Zest the lemon to get about 1 and 1/4 teaspoon of zest.  I found that this is basically half of the lemon.  Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice out, this will be about 1 tablespoon.  Put both the zest and lemon juice in a medium bowl. I used my Large batter bowl because its my favorite.

Add soup, rosemary, thyme and garlic and stir.

Remove the chicken from the oven and baste with the soup mixture.  Make sure to save at least 1 cup of the soup mixture for the gravy.  Roasting the chicken before applying the soup mix will give the skin a nice crisp which really makes the chicken very yummy.

Return the chicken to the oven, uncovered, for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and put in a warm plate.

Place the roasting pan on the stove top over medium/high heat.  Spoon out the excess fat so the gravy isn't to greasy. Add the wine and water to the pan.  Scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan.  Bring to a boil. 


Slice the chicken and serve with the gravy.  Try it.  You will not be sorry.