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Chicken, potatoes, and carrots. What else could be more quintessentially Sunday dinner? It takes me back to my childhood when Sunday afternoon dinner was the most important meal of the week. It was always right after church, around noon, and we'd all be packed off for our Sunday afternoon naps after. Heaven knows that no other activity was appropriate for Sunday. It was a day of rest after all. Inappropriate activity like playing with neighbor kids, and watching TV was banned. A few years later, room was made for Sunday afternoon football, but that was as far as the rule against activity was stretched.

I've left the Sundays of my youth far behind but sometimes I get a glimpse of those days. Today's dinner brought those memories flooding back.

For those who like as little dishwashing as possible after eating, this recipe is very nearly a one-pot meal, only the roasting pan, a cutting board and a few utinsels needing washing after the meal. The recipe comes from the Lee brothers Simple Fresh Southern. I like this cookbook a lot. The recipes are clearly laid out; they're easy to prepare, and they taste delicious.

I've long struggled with roast chicken. It's one of those meals that good cooks make with seeming ease. It's my experience that every master makes hard things look easy. My  yoga teacher Ruth does the same thing with her poses. She demonstrates and it looks effortless. Then I try it. Ooops, not so effortless. I find the same thing with roast chicken. Looks like it should be easy. Some salt, some pepper, a little olive oil. Pop it into the oven and an hour later take it out and enjoy. Except it never works out that way.

It's sort of beguiling. Last time I tried a roast chicken, I used Shirley Corriher's recipe in Cookwise. it looked easy enough and I fastidiously follwed every direction. But when I stuck in the thermometer after the allotted time, it was too cool. Extra minutes stretched into a half-hour and the accompanying veggies were done & cold by the time I fetched the bird from the oven. It still wasn't done the way I thought it should be.

The problem of course is that the white meat cooks before the dark meat. Pull it out too soon and you get cold, undercooked leg quarters. Wait too long and you get overdone, dried out breast meat. So I've been in search of the perfect roast chicken.

This recipe comes as close as I've found to an easy-to-make, perfect roast chicken. I think I didn't achieve perfection yet. The dark meat was a touch undercooked. Next time, I'll leave the bird in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. But in almost every respect, this is the best roast chicken recipe I've found yet. And an added benefit is that you have potatoes and carrots ready to eat with your chicken.

Along with our chicken and veggies, we had fresh bread that Shannon pulled from the oven about an hour before dinner, and a bottle of Acacia Pinot Noir. Before dinner, I polished off the last of a bottle of Fenn Valley Dry Riesling. The Pinot was ok but this one was too overwhelming for chicken. I'd go with the Riesling for this meal.
Ingredients
1 large or yellow onion, quartered
1 or more large carrots, peeled & cut into chunks
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
3 Tb olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
3 1/2 lb whole chicken, rinsed & dried inside & out
1 large lemon, halved
1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c dry white wine

Heat oven to 425 degrees with rack in the middle of the oven

Combine onion, carrots, and potatoes in a medium cast iron skillet or 2 quart ovenproof backing dish. Drizzle the olive oil over the veggies, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and toss until evenly coated with the oil & seasonings. Place the chicken, breast side down, on the veggies and squeeze one lemon half all over the back. Season the chicken with 1/2 tsp of the salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Roast for 20 mins then briefly remove from oven

Lift the chicken and pour the broth and wine over the veggies in the pan and move them around a bit with a wooden spoon. Flip the bird over so that is breast side up. Squeeze the remaining lemon half over the chicken and season it with the remaining salt and pepper. Roast until the skin is nicely browned on top, about 40 minutes.

Tranfer the chicken to a cutting board, tent it loosely with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Carve the chicken and serve with the pan vegetables and spoonfuls of the lemony pan sauce.