If you have a rosemary plant, this is something you can do with the leaves. If you don’t, you can buy the leaves in the herbs section of the grocery. 

We use only home grown here.

Make a brining solution by combining 1/2 cup salt, 10 garlic cloves, chopped, 3 rosemary sprigs, leaves stripped off, and 8 cups water.  Submerge the chicken in the brine and let “brine” for one hour.

While you’re doing that, make the rub for the chicken. Use 2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary leaves, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 1/8 teaspoon salt, a few grindings of black pepper, and 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Have this in a small bowl. Pull the bird out of the brine, pat dry and place on a roasting rack over a baking dish (ideal) or platter.

Now lift the skin of the bird and push some of the rub under the skin. Put some under the breast skin and some under the back skin. Try to get some of the rub in all the places you can reach under the skin, though I’ve never figured out how to get any into the drumsticks.

Now truss the chicken. Use only cotton cooking twine or (my own favorite) peaches and cream cotton yarn, the type you use for making dishclothes. First, tie the drumsticks together. Then, the wings. Now is the two person part. With one person holding the bird up, make a loop around the breast and the wings, pull tight and tie. Now make another loop around the legs and the back of the bird. Pull tight.

You can still roast the bird untrussed but it won’t be as moist and evenly cooked. 

Now roast the bird at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, turn over, and roast at 375 degrees about 30 to 40 minutes until interior temperature reaches 160 degrees for the breast, and 175 for the thigh. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can try the old “till juices run clear” test but I find it unreliable. If your remove the bird, cut it up, and there are pieces that aren’t all the way done (oh horror) don’t dispair, put them in the microwave for a minute or two.

Serve with rice and a nice green salad or whatever vegetable you have in the ‘fridge.