Ingredients:
- One 3½-to-4-pound chicken, patted dry with paper towels
- 1 tablespoon salt, divided
- 4 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons softened and 2 tablespoons melted
- 1 carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425°. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with one teaspoon of the salt and smear on 1 tablespoon of the softened butter. Truss the bird with kitchen twine, then rub it with the other tablespoon of softened butter.
Scatter the carrot and onion slices in a roasting pan and place the chicken on top, breast up. Stir the oil into the melted butter to use for basting.
Roast the chicken to brown lightly for 15 minutes, rotating it onto its left side after five minutes and onto its right side for the last 5 minutes, basting with every rotation.
Keep the chicken on its right side and lower the oven to 350°. Baste and season with another teaspoon of salt. Roast for 15 minutes, then rotate back to its left side, baste and season with the remaining teaspoon of salt. Roast another 15 minutes.
Rotate the chicken back onto its back, breast up. Baste and continue to roast until the chicken has an internal temperature of 165° when inserted into the thigh with an instant-read thermometer, 20 to 25 minutes more.
Remove the chicken from the oven and transfer to a hot platter. Let rest five to 10 minutes before carving, serving with its juices and roast vegetables.
“Roast Chicken” from THE FRENCH CHEF COOKBOOK by Julia Child, copyright © 1968 by Julia Child. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
