Today I am not sharing with you only one recipe; they are basically 2 recipes. First, we will make the most delicious herb butter ever; it is actually restaurant style herb butter.

I always have a herb butter log in the fridge; I use it in making eggs, add it to seafood, sauteed veggies, pasta, use it as a spread in sandwiches & serve it with grilled chicken/beef.

After we make the herb butter, we will use it in making a super delicious & juicy roasted chicken. The chicken tastes great alone but serving it with the juice/sauce, that’s made mainly of chicken drippings & mashed veggies, takes the taste to a whole new level.

This is one of our favorite roasted chicken recipes at home, try it & you will be hooked.

Ingredients:

For the herb butter:

• 100 gm butter at room temperature زبدة
• 1 1/2 tbsp minced dill شبت مفروم
• 1 1/2 tbsp minced green onion (optional)
• 1 1/2 tbsp minced parsley بقدونس مفروم
• 1 garlic clove minced ثوم مفروم
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice ليمون
• pinch of salt رشة ملح
• pinch of pepper رشة فلفل

For the Chicken:

• 1 x 1200 gm whole chicken فرخة كاملة
• 3 tbsp herb butter زبدة بالاعشاب
• 2 large carrots roughly chopped جزر
• 1 large onion roughly chopped بصل
• 3 lemon halves ليمون
• 1 cup water ماء
• salt & pepper ملح وفلفل

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 200C.
• In a bowl mix the butter with all the ingredients. Scoop out 3 tbsp for the chicken & place the rest of the butter in a small glass box in the fridge for later use.
• Pat the chicken dry with tissue paper; this is important so that the butter sticks to the chicken. Season the chicken inside out with salt & pepper. Rub the chicken inside out & under the skin with the herb butter. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the lemon halves & tie the legs.
• Arrange the onion & carrots in a baking tray صينية فرن & pour the water on them. Place the chicken on a rack شبكة then place the rack on top of the veggies in the baking tray. You need the chicken to be higher than the veggies; not touching them.
• Place the chicken in the oven & roast for about 60-75 minutes until the skin is golden & cooked through from inside. Every 25 minutes, open the oven to make sure that there is still water in the tray, if it dried out or was reduced too much, add another 1/2–1 cup.
• Get the chicken out of the oven & let rest until you prepare the sauce. Pour the veggies with all the juices in the baking tray in a sieve مصفاة placed over a bowl. With the back of a spoon, press on all the veggies to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the veggies in the sieve, you just need the sauce/juice in the bowl.
• Serve the chicken with the sauce/juice. Get out the lemons that were in the chicken cavity & squeeze them over the chicken.

Notes:

• The butter has to be soft but not melted. The leftover butter can be used in sandwiches, scrambled eggs, mixed with sauteed veggies, boiled pasta or served with grilled chicken/beef/seafood.
• The herb butter can be prepared a week earlier & stored in an airtight container or wrapped with cling film in the fridge.
• If you don’t have a rack شبكة, simply place the chicken on the oven rack directly & place the tray on the shelf under it.
• Don’t use a very big baking tray صينية under the chicken so that the water & juices don’t dry out quickly.