A Quick Roast Chicken

Are we all tired of eating yet?  This is what I think every night and then, what do you know, I'm hungry again the next day.  I have to say, with all the extravagant eating over the holidays, my creative juices are not flowing as well.  When nothing else comes to mind, I always turn to a good ole roast chicken.  If pinched for time, this roast chicken is the way to go.  Simple, fast and delicious.  

1 Small organic natural chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds
2-3 Tbsp of butter, melted 
Fleur de sel

Heat oven to 500. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before cooking.  When ready to cook, salt the inside of the chicken with some fleur de sel.  Truss chicken tightly so that the legs wrap tightly against the breast.  Brush with the melted butter.  You might not use all of it.  Then sprinkle generously with fleur del sel.  I used a heavy cast iron skillet to roast the chicken.  Place it in the middle rack of the oven.  Roast for 40-45 minutes until skin is deep brown.  Turn the chicken and brush with pan drippings additional butter, if you had any left over, a couple of times during roasting.  Remove from oven, let rest for 10 minutes before carving.   You will find there will be a lot of smoke coming from the oven because of the butter and high heat.  Clarified butter would help keep the smoke down.  Or, open some windows and get that hood vent going.  The chicken is worth it!

We have a new evening ritual.  After dinner, Stella and I will look at each other and say "let's go hug a chicken".  I don't know that our chickens want to be hugged before they turn in for the night, but we do it anyway.