Roasted Chicken with Clementines, Garlic & Onions

At least once a week I roast a chicken.  It's easy, no stress cooking and my family loves it.  When the weather is nice, I roast on the grill but now that the temps have dropped, I have a fool proof oven method that delivers a juicy bird with crispy skin every time.  

One of the things I love about roasting a chicken is that I can change up my recipe depending on  seasonal flavors.  That's how I came up with this version that includes clementines.  We go through lot's of citrus in this house, so the other night I snagged about 4 sweet, ripe "cuties" to use with my bird.  I made my roasting rack with carrots & celery (this is my "go-to" method for flavorful chicken) then placed my chicken on top.  After seasoning, I added my clementines, garlic, onion and some white wine.  Then, after an hour or so, my house smelled amazing and I had a delicious dinner that looked like I'd taken hours to prepare.  Now you know why I roast chicken once a week...

Roasted Chicken with Clementines, Garlic and Onions

1 3-4 lb chicken

olive oil

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

4 clementines - quartered

6 cloves garlic - peeled

2 large onion - roughly chopped

1 cup white wine - chicken stock or water may be substituted 

3-4 celery stalks

3-4 carrots

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• In a large roasting pan, place carrots and celery lengthwise.
• Place chicken on top of carrots and celery, breast side up.
• Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle on salt, pepper and paprika.
• Place 1/4 onion and 1/4 clementine in cavity of chicken.
• Evenly spread remaining clementines, onion and garlic cloves around chicken.
• Pour wine around side of roasting pan and place in oven.
• Roast on high heat for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to cook for 35-45 minutes.
• Check internal temperature by placing a meat thermometer into thickest part of thigh, not touching bone.  Chicken is done with a read of 165 degree temperature.
• Take chicken out of oven, tent with foil and let rest for 20 minutes.
• Squeeze roasted clementines over chicken and carve.
• Serve pan juices with chicken.