Roasted Lemon Chicken with Roasted Garlic Potatoes & Carrots

For the chicken:

Rinse chicken under cold water and remove any innards. Pat dry with a paper towel. Place in a baking dish.

Melt the butter, then add the juice of 2 lemons (reserve the squeezed pieces), the Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. Mince the garlic, then sprinkle some salt on it, and mash it until it becomes sort of pasty. Add that to the butter as well, and mix everything together.

With a brush, brush the butter mixture all over the chicken, coating all areas evenly. Place leftover squeezed lemon pieces in the cavity of the chicken.

Place in a preheated 475-degree oven for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees; take the chicken out, slice up your last lemon, and cover the chicken with it. Cover it with foil, poke holes to vent, and continue cooking for 2 1/2 hours.

For the vegetables:

Wash potatoes and carrots. Cut potatoes into medium-sized chunks. Cut carrots into thick disks, starting at the smaller end going up to the big end. Place on a cookie sheet and drizzle with oil, then sprinkle salt and pepper and mix everything with your hands, coating it all evenly.

Take a small piece of foil and add your peeled garlic cloves, close up the foil, and clear a small space on the pan and place it right on it. Cover the entire pan with foil and put in a preheated 375-degree oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the pan, and take off the foil and stir the vegetables. Take the garlic out of the foil, mash it with the back of a spoon (it should be soft by now), and mix it evenly throughout the vegetables. Return to the oven for another 30 minutes without the foil.

To serve, plate the chicken whole, surrounded by the roasted vegetables.