Roast Chicken with Two Lemons

This is my all-time favorite roast chicken recipe - Marcella Hazan's Roast Chicken with Two Lemons. 

When I was researching the air fryer before buying it, I found that it can actually roast a chicken. And so I have been looking forward to trying out this recipe in my air fryer. The trick though is that the air fryer I bought isn't too big and so I could only fit in a small chicken and one lemon. The results was spectacular. The skin was delightfully crispy, meat succulent and drippings flavorful. 

And it's the simplest roast chicken recipe ever. All I did was to rub the entire chicken inside and out with lots of salt and black pepper. Then press the lemon on the table and roll it firmly to release its juice within. Poke the lemon with many holes with a toothpick and pop it into the chicken cavity. Seal the chicken with a toothpick and put it into the air fryer. Cook it for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Turn the chicken over and cook it for another 15 minutes. Serve hot.

My husband loved it. He even said it was better than Nando's, our favorite roast chicken! I'm so pleased. 

Here's the recipe for the conventional oven. 

Marcella Hazan’s Roast Chicken With Lemons
Cook 2 hr ∙ Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
3 to 4-pound chicken
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 rather small lemons

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it. Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels.
3. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.
4. Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel. Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand. Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.
5. Place both lemons in the bird's cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string. Close it well, but don't make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.
6. Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up. When turning it, try not to puncture the skin. If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later. Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.
7. Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 400 degrees, and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound. There is no need to turn the chicken again.
8. Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious. Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.

NUTRITIONAL INFO
859 calories; 59 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 24 grams monounsaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 74 grams protein; 297 milligrams cholesterol; 859 milligrams sodium

pearlie