Rainy Night Roast Chicken

Tonight is super rainy and gross. My favorite thing to do on these nights is to make a yummy roast chicken with in season veggies. What do I mean about in season? Well, I was recently inspired by the book "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. Among many of the lessons in the book, one of the resounding ones personally was the idea of eating food as it grows. This means brussels sprouts in the winter, asparagus in the spring, and apples in the fall. The less we eat out of season, the less damage we do to our environment and the more vitamin rich our locally grown in-season food is...basically. So according to that theory if I go to my local fruit/veggie stand or market I would be looking for eggplant, asparagus, snow peas and zucchini to compliment my chicken.

My mom taught me a great way to take a chicken and place it on a roaster thus using the natural juices with a little olive oil to cook the veggies. This whole meal? All of 2 hours depending on the weight of the meat.

Roast Chicken and Spring Veggies

1 kosher roast chicken
I bundle of asparagus
1 large eggplant
1 medium yellow onion
1 red onion
1 bunch broccoli
3 large cloves garlic-diced. Divide into 2 piles
2-3 lemons
salt/pepper
paprika
dill
Olive Oil
White Wine

Preheat oven to 370*. If you have a good oven, 350* will probably work but my oven is awful so I have to increase temperature.
Cut up red onion, broccoli and eggplant into 1 -2 inch chunks. Toss in 2 tspn of olive oil or less. You need such a small amount. Layer the bottom of a roasting pan with the veggies and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place the roaster over the veggies.
Take the chicken, make sure giblets are removed and the neck bone is cut. Cut the yellow onion in half and stick inside the chicken. Add salt/pepper. Take 1/2 a lemon and squeeze the juice inside and then place rind inside the cavity.
Place chicken on roaster. Sprinkle liberally with salt/pepper/paprika and dill. Take 2 leftover lemons, slice and squeeze juice all over the chicken. Place rinds on veggies. The essence of the lemon will infuse the veggies.
Take 1/4 cup olive oil and pour over chicken until it is covered but not drowning in oil (cause...ewwww, and you will get fat drippings from the skin)
Cook for 1 hour then take chicken out. Stir veggies and pour white wine over chicken to add some liquid.
Cook for another 45 min to an hour ( I like my chicken dry so I cook it longer, personal flavor).
Let sit for 5-10 minutes to collect the juices...carve and serve with fresh bread!