I know it’s easy and cheap to buy rotisserie chicken, but nothing makes your house smell like heaven like a chicken roasting in the oven. Roasting a chicken is one of the best things you can learn. It can be flavored in unlimited ways, and gives you a base for several meals later in the week.  Once you learn how to roast a chicken, it’s a slippery slope to hosting Thanksgiving!

Ingredients
4-5 pound whole chicken
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Optional (lemons, garlic, onions, fresh herbs, orange)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425
Remove the chicken giblets
Rinse the chicken inside and out
Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry
Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken
(Optional) Stuff the cavity with herbs, sliced onion, lemon, orange, garlic, etc.
Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle again with salt and pepper
Place in a roasting pan or large, cast iron skillet
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh
Remove the chicken from oven and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes
Carve it up!

Advanced tip: Change up the flavors by coating inside and out with different herbs and spices before roasting: curry paste, dijon mustard, garlic and herb pesto, Adobo seasoning, BBQ sauce, soy sauce and honey, etc.