Lemon Garlic Rosemary "Roast" Chicken

The slow cooker and I have been making up for lost time.  Years ago, when I got my first one, I was all kinds of excited to try these great foods.  Roasts.  Soups.  Yumminess.

I did not get yumminess.  I got the opposite of yumminess.  So opposite that I rarely used my slow cooker until the last year or so. As long as I have a recipe to guide me, I can usually pull off a decent, if not a really great dinner.  Rarely do I venture away from a recipe with the slow cooker (yes, those early attempts were that awful).

Except when it comes to "roasting" a chicken in one.

Super moist.  Super delicious.

Rob's grandmother told me this concept.  It was so simple, and so easy, there really isn't a way to screw it up.

Lemon Garlic Rosemary "Roast" Chicken

1 (4-5lb) whole chicken
1/2 stick butter, softened
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 bulb garlic, plus 1 clove
2 long stems fresh rosemary, divided
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

1.  Remove rosemary from one of the stems and finely chop; about 1 tbsp.  Mince one clove garlic.  In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, zest and juice of one lemon (do not discard the hollowed out lemon!!), minced garlic, chopped rosemary, salt and pepper.

If you forget the garlic clove, just sprinkle in some garlic powder

2.  In the bottom of your slow cooker, lay 5-6 crumbled balls of aluminum foil.  These will act as your roasting rack and will keep the chicken up out of the fatty juices that will collect at the bottom of the pot.

3. Take the chicken and discard the neck and giblets from inside the chest cavity.  Rinse the bird all over, inside and out, and pat dry.  Tuck the wings underneath and place in slow cooker.  Season the cavity with salt and pepper.  Slice garlic bulb in half and place inside the chicken, along with the remaining lemon rind and rosemary stem.

These will flavor the bird from the inside out

5.  Using your fingers, loosen the skin over the breasts, creating a pocket for the butter.  Scoop half the butter with a spoon, put into this pocket, using your fingers to slide the butter off the spoon.  Massage the butter around so that as much of the breast is covered as possible.  Repeat with the other side.

You could also chill this as a log, slice disks, and put those under the skin.

6.  Dribble a little EVOO over the chicken and season with salt and pepper (are you seeing the Flavor Layers we're building here?  If you have kitchen twine, feel free to tie up the legs.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours.

I don't have kitchen twine.  Chicken is just as yummy without it.

Whenever I make this, I usually get everything together early enough that the chicken sits at WARM for at least an hour or two.  This resting time does AMAZING things to the moistness of the meat.  That, and the flavored butter bath.

What I really love about this foil concept is that you can make this chicken using whatever flavors you like.  Go with just a citrus selection of oranges, lemons, tangerines, and limes.  Do garlic and various fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage...).  Whatever floats your boat!

A word of caution now: if you are a Skin Person then I'd recommend roasting the chicken in a roasting pan in the oven, instead of the slow cooker.  The slow cooker doesn't get hot enough to get the skin brown and crispy.  Still use whatever flavor combo you want, just cook it in a 350 preheated oven for about an hour or so.