Roasted Chicken with Rosemary

And 6 months later, I am back. Now, from Denmark! I had the opportunity to spend about two months on a guesthouse sharing food with other international students. One of them, an Italian named Giorgio, taught me some of the cooking Italian ways. I learned how to make an awesome carbonara, the right way to make bolognesa, and the awesomeness of a simple bruscceta made only with brie and tomatoes.

However, the last dinner I had with my friend Giorgio was a rosted chicken. I have made some chicken before, but on a very basic way: sprinkle some spices and oil, a couple of slaps and to the oven. Here I will try to explain how to make it the way he did it, with some of my modifications, and you will find out, when you try it, that it is awesome!

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 whole chicken (if there is more than 4 people can be extended to two, three, etc.
• Olive oil.
• Salt, pepper, tamin, chili pepper.
• About 7 cloves of garlic
• Fresh rosemary (ideally).
• 1 lemon.
•  ¼ of a red onion.

1. Before you start with the chicken, put all the spices (salt, pepper, tamin, chili pepper) in a little bowl and pour some olive oil. The idea is to make a paste that will be used to rub the chicken. Preheat the oven to about 230­^o C.

2. Separate the two breasts of the chicken to get it open and flat (see picture). Now, make little incisions around the chicken especially in the breasts, thighs, and in those parts where there is abundant skin.  Place the garlic cloves inside these incisions, but make sure you crack them a little before.

3. Start rubbing the chicken GENEROUSLY and everywhere using the paste prepared in step 1 and the rosemary. Do it in between the skin and the meat, also on top of the skin, under the chicken, etc. make sure you cover all the chicken. Put some leaves of rosemary, with the garlic, in the incisions made in step 2.

4. Put some olive oil in an oven dish. Cut several slices of lemon and thick onion pieces and place them in the oven dish. Put the chicken on top of the lemon and onions. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 ^o C and throw the chicken in. The cooking time will be about 1 hour. At the end, you can put some extra heat to make the skin crunchier, but 1 hour is enough to get it brown and a bit crunchy.

Happy cooking!!