Roasted Chicken with a Mushroom Gravy

Normally I buy a rotisserie chicken but today I decided to test the power of my Breville convection toaster oven to roast my own.  Super simple and super delicious!  I like to combine olive oil and a little butter to prepare my bird.  Here's what I did: 

1 pat of butter melted, combined with 1-2 Tbls of your favorite olive oil

1/2 Lemon

Salt and pepper

Spoon and massage the combo all over your bird.  Salt and pepper the outside and the cavity of the chicken well.  I also took one half of a lemon and squeezed the juice and added to the cavity of the chicken .  I then decided to roast a little garlic and lemon with it as well, so brush a little oil mixture on the top of these.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and roast the bird for 10 minutes then reduce temperature to 350° and roast for approximately 20 minutes per pound.  My chicken was about 5 pounds so I roasted it for approximately 1 1/2 hours.  Always use a meat thermometer and make sure to cook your poultry between 170 and 180°.  Remember, there will be residual cooking after you remove your chicken from the oven so allow for that otherwise you will dry out your chicken.  Once you remove the chicken from the oven, tent loosely with foil and let the chicken rest for approximately 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

I've then used some of the pan drippings to create a little sauce.  Button mushrooms rarely have much flavor so you need to spice them up a little.  I diced my mushrooms and then I sautéed them for a few moments in the pan drippings.   Once they became a golden color I went ahead and added just a little bit of flour and created a slight roux.   I then added 1 ounce of white wine which is totally optional and after letting that cook for a moment I've completed my sauce with a little low sodium chicken broth.  Be careful!  The pan drippings may be salty so do not add additional salt until tasting.

Enjoy and happy living!