Roasted Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes

It's my daughter’s birthday again. Years ago, when Hub handed me this little doll with the big beautiful eyes. It was one of the greatest moments in my life.

“ Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter!  I am blessed to have you as a daughter. No matter how many birthdays come and go, you'll always be my little girl.  It has been so much fun to watch you grow up into the incredible person that you have become. I am so proud of you and cannot wait to watch you continue to grow and be all the good that you can be. I pray that this day will be the beginning of all that you hope to be and hope to have. May God bless you on this day and every day and may you continue to be the wonderful person you are. Mommy, Papa and abang wish you all the success in life. Make all the best decisions by putting our Almighty and wonderful God first and you will never go wrong! I love you very much. ”

This photo was taken at Dumpil Bay, Putatan, a few days after we moved to Sabah, to escape the madness of KL and move to a life less hectic, with more space and a better lifestyle… 

On the Bamboo Trampoline, at Murut House, KDCA, Hongkod Koisaan, Penampang. 

Since it’s also Malaysia’s 59^th National Day which is also a public holiday, so we decided to go to one of KRR branches in town, to celebrate my daughter's birthday. The food was not how we expected it to be. It came within minutes of being ordered. The roasted chicken was very pale and a bit cold. The only saving grace was the vanilla muffins. They still taste as good as before, back in the days when we frequented their other branch. I wonder if KRR sends people down to check on the quality of their food. It is a shame that the food quality has gone down so much despite the not too cheap prices. I will not be going back any time soon even if they give away free food! It is a wonder they still have customers in this day of many choices. Perhaps the market they cater to are less demanding.

This fabulous recipe is from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe’s blog which is actually adapted from The Pioneer Woman's blog and like her, I also changed a few things to suit our palates. I am not a big fan of chicken but this roasted chicken is the best roasted chicken I’ve ever had.

Roasted Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

180gm butter – softened

1 whole lemon

1 yellow onions – peeled, halved and sliced

4 sprigs of rosemary

4 sprigs of thyme

2 bay leaves

4 carrots – peeled and chopped

5 medium potato – peeled and cut into wedges

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Trim off any excess fat then exfoliate the chicken to remove any trapped dirt or unpleasant stuff off the skin by grabbing a handful of coarse salt and rub all over the skin but at the same time being careful not to tear the skin. Rinse well then pat dry.

Zest the lemon. Strip the leaves off of one of the rosemary sprigs and chop it up finely. Strip off all thyme leaves from the stems.

In a bowl, combine softened butter, lemon zest, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Place onion on a baking tray.  Onto the onion, lay the patted-dry chicken, breast side up.

Put ¾ of the butter mixture on top of the chicken then smear it all over the chicken, under the skin (including hidden spots like under the wings) and inside the cavity. 

Cut the lemon in half then stuff together with the three remaining rosemary leaves plus the bay leaves into the cavity of the chicken.

Look who's helping me preparing dinner!

Smear the remaining butter all over the potato and carrots. Set aside.

Place the chicken into the oven and roast it for 1 hour.

After roasting for 1 hour, placed the potatoes and carrots around the chicken then continue roasting for another 30 minutes or until done. Skin should be deep golden brown and juices should be sizzling.

Carve/cut up to your heart’s content and dig in.

P.S.

I would like to dedicate this song to my daughter. This song was the first she heard. Her brother played this song in our car when we first brought her home from the hospital.