Gordon Ramsay's Herb Roasted Chicken

Pulled out a cookbook from my favorite chef, Gordon, and found something that is allowed on my wife's diet, Herb Roasted Chicken.  He suggests a potato gratin to go with it, but Dutchie couldn't eat that, not to mention that Zachary called it gross.  Most of the recipes in this book  aren't very easy or practical, but they provide a challenge.

I paired this with 2 different sautéed veggies....carrots and green bean beans.  

The carrots were cooked with parsley and shallots, 

and the beans were cooked with bacon slices.

Gordon instructed to remove the legs as they take a bit longer than the breasts to cook, so I roasted them simply with s/p and some herb scraps.  This was Zachary's protein.  

For the rest of the bird, I created an herb butter and placed it up under the skin, with a lemon slice.  

I used carrots, onion, leek and celery to prop up the chicken and to add flavor.  

This is meant to be discarded, but I think I will use that and the carcass to create some 

homemade chicken stock.

The butter really crisped up the skin, and the lemon added such a great flavor.

Plated fairly simply, this meal was awesome!

The chicken was moist and delicious, the beans...I mean come on....

add bacon to anything and it can only improve the taste.

The carrots rounded out the meal quite well.

I've roasted chicken many times, and have even done the butter

trick, so I'm not so sure following the recipe added anything to my

own recipe.  

Regardless of that, the flock has been successfully fed!