Lemontastic Chicken! (formerly known as Lemon Chicken

I had to spice up the name of this main course. It's just too good to have a simple title! I knew I wanted to make a whole chicken, and when I started searching recipes, this was the first one I came upon - and I knew it was the one! There's lemon infused in the whole thing, which makes it into a tender, buttery, moist chicken, with a tang of lemon. Yum! We served this with Cream Cheese-Chive Biscuits (recipe to follow), Steamed Artichokes, and fresh fruit (grapes and melon). It was a delicious, balanced meal!

Lemontastic Chicken

1/3 c coarse salt

3 T freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

1 5lb roasting chicken

Gremolata (recipe below)

6 T unsalted butter, softened

8 fresh or dried basil leaves

4 lemons, quartered lengthwise

Gremolata: Chop all ingredients until well combined.

Zest of 6 lemons, grated or finely chopped

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsely

2 T chopped shallots (about 2 medium shallots)

**Gremolata best when used immediately. Makes 2/3 cup.

1. In a small bowl, combine salt and lemon juice. Loosen the skin of the chicken from the flesh. Rub mixture under the skin and in the cavity of the chicken. Place chicken in a large resealable plastic bag (we used "jumbo"); chill at least 4 hours and up to 48 hours, turning occasionally.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse all of the salt off the chicken with cold water; pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, combine gremolata mixture and softened butter. Rub two-thirds of the mixture under the chicken's skin; rub the rest on the outside. Stuff the cavity with the bay leaves and the quartered lemons.

4. Place chicken in a large roasting pan, breast side up. Tuck the tips of the wings under the bottom of the bird. Transfer pan to oven. After 40 minutes, baste. Cover pan with foil; reduce heat to 375 degrees.

5. Cook, basting occasionally, until the skin is crisp and golden, 40 to 45 minutes more. The juices should run clear when the chicken is pierced; an instant-read thermometer should register 170 degrees in the deepest part of the thigh when done. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*We used only 6 lemons total, as the quartered lemons we stuck in the cavity were the ones we had zested for the gremolata. The flavor was delicious, but you can use separate lemons for the quarters if you want it to be prettier. Also, as you can tell in the picture, my skin didn't brown as it says it should (and mine wasn't very pretty). It still tasted great, though! It just wasn't crispy. Overall, this was pretty easy, and DELICIOUS! =)