Love Dish: Citrus-Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing, food-filled vacation. I spent the majority of my holiday sitting around my parents' kitchen making some of our favorite family recipes (and taking meticulous notes), and I'm excited to share them all with you soon. In the meantime, though, here's a simple dish that I made last night. After all the feasting of Christmas was behind us, we wanted a dinner that required very little effort. A few chickens in the freezer, some oranges in the fridge, and the hardy rosemary bush in the backyard were all we needed.

Citrus-Rosemary Roasted Chicken
2 5-lb roasting chickens
2 oranges
6 rosemary sprigs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degree.

Remove the giblets from the chickens and either save for another use or discard. Wash the chickens inside and out and pat dry. Sprinkle the cavities with salt and pepper. Cut each orange in half; squeeze the juice of both halves over the skin of one chicken and stuff the cavity with the rinds. Repeat with the other chicken. Place one rosemary sprig in each cavity. Pull the leaves off the remaining sprigs and chop finely. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, rosemary, and salt and pepper. Spread evenly over both chickens, rubbing with your hands to coat evenly.

Place both chickens in a large roaster and place in oven. Immediately lower the heat to 350 and roast for 1 1/2 hours, or until a meat thermometer placed in the thickest part of one of the chicken's thighs reaches 175. Remove from oven; tent with foil and let rest for ten minutes. Carve and serve.