One of my favorite dishes of all time is roasted chicken. To me, there is not a meal that is more simple, nourishing, or delicious. Usually during the winter I will roast a chicken as often as once a week if I can, or until I experience burn out.

Normally I roast my chickens in a Crock Pot and they always turn out delicious. This time I decided to step it up a little by roasting it in the oven with my enameled dutch oven. It took me years before I bought one because they’re expensive but I have found it such a worthwhile investment. Its a cast iron dutch oven but sealed and protected by a thick layer of enamel, preventing rust and the need to season in between uses.

And, of course, you can take it directly from your stove top straight into your oven and vice versa, making this workhorse a necessity in a minimalist’s kitchen

I followed Ina Garten’s recipe for this chicken except that I adapted and cut out some of the ingredients in an attempt to simplify and customize it.

The outcome was truly delectable.

Simple Roasted Chicken

5-7 lb chicken

1/4 cup melted butter

1 entire garlic bulb, crushed

1 lemon, roughly cut

thyme

paprika

liberal amount of salt and pepper

Place the chicken in the dutch oven. Remove the neck and giblets. Squeeze the lemon over the chicken and stuff the cavity with the cut lemon. Drizzle with the melted butter. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper, seasonings, and garlic.

Cover the dutch oven and place into the oven. Cook at 425 degrees for 1.5 hours or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Serve with a side of vegetables. Roast chicken really is a standalone dish and can be complemented with pretty much any side veggie. The refrigerated leftover meat makes wonderful sandwiches the next day.

And I must add that the bones must not be wasted. It is truly a sacrilege if they are as there is the most wonderful and most nutritious and most brothy of soups to be had from homemade chicken broth.

Normally when I make this chicken in the Crock Pot, I slide the leftover and picked-clean bones back into Crock Pot and simmer on low through the night into the next morning.

This time I placed the bones back into the dutch oven, leveled with water and splashed in a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. The ACV leaches even more nutrients from the bones. Then I placed the covered dutch oven back into the oven at 325 degrees for five to six hours.

This resulted in an intensely rich broth, roasted and flavored to perfection. This broth will be used the following day for a wonderful soup.