Ingredients
Scale
- 1 (4 to 5 pound) whole roasting chicken
- Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lemons, cut into quarters
- 1 whole head garlic, in tact, skins on, just cut in half horizontally
- olive oil
- 2 yellow onions, peeled and thickly sliced
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Remove and discard the chicken giblets if you find them inside your chicken.
- Pat the outside of the chicken dry with a paper towel. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Cut the lemons in quarters, place 2 quarters in the chicken along with the garlic and reserve the rest of the lemons wedges for the roasting pan.
- Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. I didn’t tie my chicken legs but you should have.
- Place the chicken in a small (11 by 14-inch) roasting pan. (If the pan is too large, the onions will burn. You want to have everything close together. Toss the reserved lemons and onions in 2 tablespoons olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper. Squeeze the reserved lemons over and around the chicken and place everything in the roasting pan around the chicken.
- Roast the chicken for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and a thigh. Remove the chicken to a platter and place onions and lemon on the platter with the chicken. Cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes while you prepare the sauce.
- Place the roasting juices in a small saucepan, add chicken stock, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Place flour in a small bowl and whisk in 3 tablespoons of the hot roasting juice and broth. Stir until no lumps remain and return the mixture to the saucepan. Add the white wine and stir, boiling gently, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Carve the chicken onto a platter and serve with the lemons, onions, and warm sauce.