Get back on track with this hearty and healthy lemon rosemary roasted chicken with a side salad and veggies.

This recipe is hearty and nutritious. The chicken falls off the bone and the veggies cook in the drippings from the chicken making them incredibly flavourful. The addition of a fresh salad makes you feel like you are being a healthy and responsible adult, and it actually tastes effing delicious.

If you’re lucky, you’ll have enough for leftovers the next day and I’ve tacked on an easy stock recipe to make use of the whole chicken.

Enjoy!

For the chicken:

• 1 organic chicken
• 1 lemon
• 3 spring rosemary
• 1 head of garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 large carrots
• 1 onion
• 1 pound of mini potatoes, such as fingerling or purple potatoes

For the salad:

• 1 head of red lettuce
• 5 large radishes
• ½ a cucumber
• ½ an avocado

For the Dressing:

• ½ olive oil
• ¼ c balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Fill a large pot with water, add a generous pinch of salt and put on an element on high heat. Once water has come to a rolling boil, add your potatoes, for only about five minutes. Drain with a strainer and add potatoes back to the pot. Put the lid on and shake them up so that they get a little bit beat up. Put them in a baking dish. Add your three carrots and onion (roughly chopped). Distribute everything evenly in your baking dish.

Rinse out your chicken with cold water; get inside the cavity and rinse all the skin. Place on top of your veggies in the baking dish.

Wash your hands and prep your chicken rub; chop up the rosemary and about three cloves of garlic finely, add to a small bowl with the oil. Grate in the zest of your lemon with a micro plane grater and squeeze in the juice of the lemon. Combine this mixture and rub all over the chicken. Add the remains of the lemon to the cavity along with the remaining (peeled) cloves of garlic.

Cover with tin foil and put in the oven. For every pound, add 20 minutes to the timer (a four lb chicken needs to be in the oven for an hour and 20 minutes).

Now prep your salad. Wash and dry your lettuce. Chop roughly into bite sized pieces. Chop your cucumber and radishes into thick slices. Add your avocado just before you are ready to eat.

To make your dressing, combine all the ingredients into a small mason jar, screw on the lid, and give it a vigorous shake until it is all combined. Have a taste and add more of whatever you desire (I like to add more mustard as I enjoy tart flavours. If you like sweet, you may want more maple syrup).

The chicken is done if, when you stick a thermometer in the breast, it comes to 170 degrees. Let the chicken rest for about five to 10 minutes – if you cut into it right away, all the juices will spill out of the meat.

While the chicken is resting, add in your avocado and toss the dressing into the salad.

Once the chicken has rested, carve it along the bones and plate with the veggies and salad. Bon appetit!

Easy Chicken Stock

Don’t throw the chicken bones away! You can make an amazing stock by adding the bones to a large pot with a roughly chopped onion, some celery sticks, carrots and some garlic. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a slow simmer for about two to four hours. Strain into another large pot and put in the fridge. After a few hours, a layer of congealed fat will form at the top – carefully scrape this off and dispose of it or, keep it in the fridge to use as an oil alternative when frying up veggies on the stove. You can boil down your stock to be as concentrated as you want. I like to boil mine down ’til it is very concentrated, put it in ice cube trays, and freeze until I’m ready to make a soup. At that point, I add a few cubes and some water and have a delicious soup.