All Day Sunday Roast Chciken



All Day Sunday Roast Chicken

This is the perfect meal for a Sunday or any day where you need dinner ready the second you walk in the door.  Just throw it all together in the morning and 5 hours later your meal will be ready and waiting.  If you have time, you can make the gravy or you can just spoon the pan juices over the chicken and vegetables.  You can always add some sweet potatoes or other root vegetables to the pan for some variation.  This is one of our favorite "go-to" Sunday meals.  It's fast, easy, fresh and delicious and so economical!  This is such a great meal for everyone to have under their belt.  It's just one of those meals that makes everyone happy!   

 

Chicken:

7 lb. roasting chicken

1 orange or lemon quartered

1/2 onion quartered

handful of fresh garden herbs if available

salt and fresh ground pepper

pinch or two of favorite herb blend

 Glaze:

(If you have time constraints you can skip the glaze.  Just salt and pepper the chicken and add a sprinkle of dried herbs)

 

3 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard

1 tablespoons honey

   Vegetables:

               2 lbs. carrots, peeled and cut half, then into 2 inch pieces

                 12 red potatoes, cut into quarters or large bite sized pieces

  1 onion roughly sliced

 1/2 cup water, added to bottom of pam
 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place cut vegetables in bottom of a large baking dish or roasting pan.  Remove giblets and rinse chicken inside and out and place breast side up on top of vegetables.  Squeeze orange inside and over chicken and stuff orange rind inside chicken with onion and handful of fresh garden herbs.  Brush chicken with the glaze and season with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan, cover with foil and roast at 300 degrees for 5-6 hours.  Test vegetables and chicken at 5 hours if possible. Remove foil and let chicken brown for 10-20 minutes if needed.

                                                
                                   Pan Gravy

            This is how my mother and grandmother taught me how to make gravy...the old-fashioned way!  It 's made with ingredients you will already have on hand and it always turns out delicious. 

2 cups milk

4 tablespoons flour
½-1 teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
Drippings (juices in bottom of roasting pan) from roasted chicken and vegetables

Remove chicken from roasting pan.  Place roasting pan on burner or drain drippings from roasting pan into large skillet.  Heat skillet or roasting pan over low heat and bring drippings to a simmer.  In medium bowl, or in a jar with a lid, make a slurry by whisking together milk and flour until smooth. Pour into simmering chicken drippings. Add coarse salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Simmer gently, whisking all the while, until gravy thickens. Thin with more milk and thicken with a little more slurry if needed to reach desired consistency.  Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve with roast chicken and vegetables.