Ingredients:
5 heads garlic, cloves seperated and unpeeled
6 -7 lbs chicken, giblets removed
1 package fresh thyme
1 package fresh tarragon
1 lemons, halved
coarse salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup olive oil, plus some for the pan
1 baguette, sliced,for serving
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 F Lightly coat the bottom of your roasting pan with olive oil, place garlic in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Remove pan from oven.
While your garlic is roasting, wash and pat dry the chicken.
Loosen the skin around the breasts and place 1/3 of the thyme and tarragon under the skin.
Squeeze half of the lemon juice into the cavity then sprinkle coarse salt and pepper inside to season.
Place another 1/3 of the herbs inside the cavity; fill the rest of the cavity with as many cloves of garlic as will fit, setting the rest aside.
Tie the legs together with cooking twine.
Place the chicken in your roasting pan and surround with the remaining herbs.
Drizzle skin with olive oil; massage to coat and then sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper.
Roast chicken for an hour and 10 minutes.
Add remaining garlic to the pan around the chicken and continue roasting for about 20 more minutes.
Your total roasting time should be around 1 1/2 hours, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thigh reads between 170- 175 F or the thigh juices run clear when pricked.
If the chicken is looking too brown (or just brown enough) when you add the garlic for the final 20 minutes, just loosely cover it with foil for the remainder of the cooking time.
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest, covered with foil, for at least 15 minutes.
In the meantime skim the fat from the pan juices.
Place the chicken on a platter surrounded with roasted garlic cloves, and spilling out from the cavity.
Spoon pan juices over the chicken.
Servings: 6
Time preparation: 15 min.
Time total: 135 min.