Roast Chicken

This is perhaps my most essential recipe.  It is quick, simple, healthy, extremely useful and very economical.  What more could you ask?
At first, a whole chicken with its guts, bones and skin intimidated me to death.  How do you know it's done?  How do you cut it?  What do you do with it?  My husband insisted that it was easy, and promised to cut it in the end, so I tried it.  It has since become a staple, and I probably roast at least one chicken a week.  I promise you will love it, and the endless options with the leftovers.  Besides, could there be a more quintessential Sunday Supper?

Ingredients:
1 whole 3-5 lb chicken  (Yes, quality matters.  Yes, you can taste the difference between Organic, Natural and the scary cheap ones that have clearly never moved in their lives.  I can't afford organic on a regular basis, or I at least cannot stomach paying between $12 and $15 for ONE chicken.  I settle for the natural ones from in-state farms.  The extra cheap ones are injected with chicken broth, and do not have the same muscle tone, and do not taste as good.)
Fresh Herbs--Sage, Thyme, Rosemary  (dried just isn't the same)
Spices--Paprika, Coriander, Cumin, Chili Powder, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder
Salt and Pepper
1 Onion
Olive Oil

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 415 degrees.

Cut the onion into rings, put on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish and drizzle with olive oil.

Make spice rub in a little bowl.  A couple teaspoons of salt, a good amount of fresh ground pepper.  One teaspoon of paprika, 1/2 tsp of all the other spices.  Mix together and taste.  Adjust to your taste.

Set out things for chicken before you get your hands all messy.  You will need several paper towels, a piece of kitchen twine or thread, your fresh herbs, your spice rub and your olive oil already opened.

Remove chicken from its packaging.  Remove innards, and rinse in sink inside and out.  Discard packaging and innards.  (You could be creative with those, but personally, that is going a bit far.)

Dry chicken on the paper towels.  Put on top of the onions in your pan.
Rub down skin on top and under the skin with the spice rub and olive oil.

Fill the cavity with the fresh herbs.  I don't cut them, but I do give them a little twist to start releasing their flavors.

Tuck the wings as shown.

Tie up the legs with the kitchen twine as shown.

Put the chicken in the oven.  To temp the chicken, place a metal stick thermometer straight into where you think the hip joint is.  I also like to temp the thickest, deepest part of the breast.  When the chicken reads 165 to 170 degrees, remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting.  It is important to let it rest.

Look how pretty!

Serve with oven roasted potatoes or any other favorite starch, and a great vegetable like asparagus or broccoli.  Occasionally I will make an amazing pan sauce with sour cream,  Dijon mustard, pan juices and a little white wine to go on top of the chicken, but I will have to take pictures of that another day.  Tonight, it's just the kids and I, so we are just eating chicken, potatoes and trees with cheese (broccoli).  Tomorrow, I plan on making my to-die-for chicken enchiladas with the leftovers.