Tonight we had a basic roast chicken. It was rather large (6.5 lbs) so it took longer than usual, though the skin had an excellent crispness. I'm not sure why people don't roast chicken all the time, it's so easy and people are so easily impressed. It does help that I have an adjustable V roasting rack. I did a rub of kosher salt, black pepper and herbes de provence. I generously rub inside the cavity and outside. Then I generously pour on olive oil(I'm trying to cut out lactose).

I fill the rest of the roasting pan w/ apple wedges, bread cut in cubes(yes homemade), leeks, sage, chicken stock(yes homemade) for my stuffing.

It's rather straightforward. I bake at 450 F for 30 minutes then I turn down the temperature to 375 F and bake till my meat thermometer tells me it's at 170 F. I take out the chicken to rest under a little tin foil tent(so cute) for 20 mins. The temp will rise at this point to 180 F. If not, I stick the chicken back in a bit to coax it up to 180F.

We had it with a simple green salad w/ toasted walnuts and a balsamic/dijon vinaigrette, lentils, and of course the stuffing.

I really felt like wine so we had the old standby Le Vielle Ferme Red. It's so ridiculously cheap and though I'd love to claim that I discovered it, I think Parker declared it the world's greatest value wine years ago. I think it goes well w/ chicken seeing that there is a chicken on the bottle. We end up calling it old chicken wine. I don't think I'd use it for cooking. I'd like something with more body. Anyway, the great thing about the wine is that it's a screw top. Honestly I don't think I'd really miss corks if it meant never getting a corked wine.