Roasted Lemon and Fresh Herb Chicken

I've always roasted chickens with a buttery bread stuffing, but now that I am trying to cook healthier, I needed a new recipe.

Today I created an Olive Oil and Lemon Juice based herb paste to massage into both the inside cavity and all around the outside of the 2 roasters.

When I turn on the oven to roast something, I like to fill it up. This recipe is for two chickens so that we have plenty of leftovers for the next day.

The kids enjoyed it, but they sure complained about no stuffing!!!

Roasted Lemon and Fresh Herb Chicken
2 Large Roasting Chickens
the juice of 1 Lemon
The yellow peel of 1 Lemon
(discard the white as much as possible)
20 Fresh Chive Leaves
A hand full of Fresh Parsley
1 tbsp. of Rosemary
1 Tsp. of Cracked Black Pepper
1/3 cup of Olive Oil
1/2 tsp of Kosher Salt
2 whole Cloves of Garlic, peeled
Wash the chickens both inside and out with a handful of Kosher Salt. Cut off any excess fat. Set aside and let drain in a bowl.

Put all of the other ingredients into the Vita-Mix or Food Processor. Blend into a paste.

Move each Chicken into it's own roasting pan with high sides.

Split herb paste into 2 portions. Massage the paste into the inside and all around the outside of each chicken.
Cover each pan with foil to keep moisture in the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees.

Check the Chickens every 30 minutes or so and baste with the juices. For the two 5 pound chickens I had, it took about 2 hours until the meat was "falling of the bones." You can see in the photo where the wing and leg fell off!!!

Remove foil and broil a few minutes to brown the skin. Watch the chickens very carefully to prevent burning.

My chickens were very moist with a light mild flavor. The kids complained that the skin wasn't crispy enough!! That was fine with me, because I throw away all of the skin.

While the chickens are still warm, I remove and discard all of the fat, skin and bones. Today I served the four hind quarters for dinner. I saved the breasts for the following night. I put all of the small parts of chicken together to make Chicken Salad. I had about $13.00 of ingredients in this recipe which yeilded 3 meals for 4 people!! I like saving money as much as I like saving fat calories!!