Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken

What is more comforting and more delicious than fresh roasted chicken? To me it conjures up memories of Friday night meals as a kid and of rotisserie chickens my father used to bring home on Sundays. It is simple comfort food at its best and I love it. To change it up a little this time I decided to add some goodies to it like lots of garlic, lemon and white wine. Stuffing a whole chicken with lemon is an old trick but one that I love. The lemon releases its moisture into the chicken while it cooks and makes it super moist and scents the chicken with fragrant lemon smell. The best part of the chicken to me is the part that baked on top of the lemons- those pieces just taste so lemony delicious. If you don't like rosemary you can substitute thyme or leave it out altogether, but make sure you rub that oil mixture well all over the chicken and baste it every once in a while. Enjoy!

1 large chicken, whole
1 head garlic
2 lemons
2 stalks rosemary
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbl whole grain Dijon mustard
1 Tbl finely minced or pressed garlic
1/2 cup white wine

Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees. Stuff the chicken with 1 lemon cut in half, the rosemary and half a head of garlic. Mix together the oil, mustard and pressed garlic. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and rub the oil mixture all over the chicken. Place the other lemon, halved around the chicken with the remaining garlic and pour in the white wine. Roast for about an hour and 20 minutes rotation the pan and basting the chicken every so often. The chicken is ready when the juices run clean and not pink when a knife goes in. If your chicken is very large it may need more time. Once the chicken is done you can serve it like that or transfer all the juices to a pan, mash the cooked garlic cloves into the juices and bring it all to a boil. Strain it and serve it as a delicious gravy for the chicken.