Manhandling a bird

I felt like roast chicken yesterday and headed to the Supermarket for some chicken thighs. Much to my disappointment, I couldn't find any... and so I was left with no choice but to go with one whole chicken.  Not that it is a problem but... I have NEVER handled or cooked a whole chicken before! (ya I know... how difficult can it be right?)

When I finally took out the bird from its plastic wrapper in the kitchen, my heart suddenly came up to my throat the moment I realized the bird was not what I expected it to be.

The chicken feet were still there stuck inside its ass and I had to slowly pull them out to reveal two scrawny, scabby limps with evil-looking claws... yaks!

And just when I thought the worst was over... I turned the bird around and yikes! Don't tell me the head was also stuck inside!

So, again I had to painfully pull out the long dangling neck with its chicken head drooping helplessly at the other end (all this time trying to avoid eye contact with it).

I couldn't wait a second more to remove these unsightly parts immediately with one clean chop when I realized my miserable small Ikea knife could only manage very slow and clumsy "sawing".  At some point, I felt my hands were doing more than the knife by pulling and twisting them apart.

Finally, I could clean out the cavity without the disturbing dangling body parts.  I must have been so paranoid that I spent about twice as long as I would shower myself to wash that bird inside out.

So traumatized I was that I swear never again to buy a whole chicken with the head and feet still intact.

Anyway, it was all worth the effort because we had a yummy satisfying dinner eventually. (Here is the delicious-looking chicken after an afternoon of torture by me... actually the torture was more like both ways...)

It is funny how I started this blog entry with the intention of sharing my simple roast chicken recipe but got carried away about the bird itself :-P

Here goes: 

Roast Chicken with Rosemary & Lemon

• Marinate & massage the chicken with melted butter, few sprigs of fresh rosemary leaves (coarsely chopped), lemon zest, lemon juice and a generous amount of salt & pepper
• Leave in fridge for a few hours
• Pre-heat oven to 220 
• Stuff the marinated chicken with the left-over lemon wedges and few cloves of garlic & red onions
  
• Drizzle the chicken with olive oil 
• Bake chicken at 220 for 45 min
• In the meantime, cook cubes of potatoes in heavily salted water for 10 min
• During the last 3-4 min, add in some cut up french beans 
• Drain and coat the potatoes and beans with salt & pepper
• Add the potatoes & beans around the chicken and mix them well to soak up the oil & juice in the baking tray.
• Continue baking for another 40 min (I reduced the heat to 200 but not sure if it is necessary on hindsight)
• Then Makan!