Roast Chicken and the Superbowl

I've lived in this country for ten years, nearly eleven, and until Sunday I had never actually seen the Superbowl. My boss has a Superbowl party every year because the Circus never runs on Superbowl Sunday. This was the first year that I was able to go and it was a really good time. There were great drinks, amazing food, and really good company. I ate two of the yummiest things I've ever had. Jenn makes these legendary meatballs. The sauce is just to die for and the meatballs are so delightfully tender and the recipe, well, it's apparently a secret. So I don't get to make it at home, which might be good, because then I would probably eat nothing else.

The other thing I ate were these mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes. They were ridiculous. I ate three, even though I swore I didn't want to and they were probably about 600 calories a pop. But they were so gooey, tender, moist and delicious. I'm hoping that I might be able to get that recipe, though, again, it's a huge risk.

So after the meatballs and the cheesecake and the burger and the potato chips and the chicken wings and the beer, I headed home late that night and decided i would probably never need to eat again. I felt so delightfully heavy. But then I kept waking up in the night with that "Oh god what have I done" feeling.

Now, here's the weird part. I'm not normally a soup girl, but all I wanted to eat all day yesterday was homemade chicken soup. So, I picked up a wee chicken at the store to roast so that I could then turn it into delicious soup. Then, I got distracted by the gym, Jenga, and The Voice. I managed to roast the chicken and I'll be making the soup later today, but I was so darn happy with the chicken that I wanted to share how I made it.

Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic

1 Whole Chicken, rinsed
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
8 Sprigs of Rosemary
5 Cloves Garlic
Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 500F. On the breast side of the bird, lift up the skin a little and push in six sprigs of Rosemary and four clove of garlic. Having them under the skin really imparts flavor to the chicken breast. Put the rest of the Rosemary and garlic in the cavity of the chicken. Pour half the olive oil on the chicken breast and massage it all over, then grind over some salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a roasting pan breast side down, then pour the rest of the oil on the underside and salt and pepper again.

Roast at 500 for twenty minutes with the breast down, then flip the bird and baste with the olive oil that has collected in the bottom of the pan. Roast for another 8 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350F and cook for one hour and 15 more minutes. Check the bird for doneness and add in any cooking time you might need to finish it off.

Carve up and enjoy the chicken, and make sure to save the bones to make soup with!