Orange and Lemon Thyme Roasted Chicken and Unchicken.

I often make meat for guests, and for Ben on special occasions.    My urge to feed people is much stronger than my aversion to touching raw meat.  I want to be able to taste the flavors I'm creating, though, so I always make a meat and a vegetarian version of the same dish.   

1 whole chicken
Two oranges, zested.
8 cloves of garlic, 2 of them crushed
1/4 tsp onion powder
salt, pepper
1/2 stick of butter (or vegan olive oil spread- that's what I used)
a whole mess of baby carrots
1/2 cup white wine
1 bunch lemon thyme
handful of fresh parsley

Wash, dry and salt your chicken. If you have time, let it sit uncovered in the back of the fridge for a couple hours to dry out the skin- it will be crispier.

Combine the zest from the oranges, the crushed garlic, onion powder, 2 tbl of chopped fresh lemon thyme and black pepper with the butter. Stuff the cavity of the bird with one of the oranges, cut into wedges, a handful of the thyme stems, parsley and the remaining whole cloves of garlic. Rub the skin of the bird with half the compound butter. Fill the bottom of your roasting pan with the baby carrots. Add wine and salt & pepper. Put the chicken on a rack over the carrots. Roast at 400 for about 20 minutes a pound. The butter will leak into the carrots and make a sauce. You could use raw potato cubes instead of carrots.

For the vegetarians:

Fill an 8x8 pan with baby carrots until the bottom is just covered. Add 1/2 cup of white wine, salt and pepper. Lay slices of the remaining orange across the top of the carrots and dot with the compound butter. Roast. (I put the compound butter on quorn breasts*, and roasted them on top of the oranges; this would work with seitan or tofu, too)

Tip: the roasted oranges from the carrot dish are delicious squeezed over your entree- the chicken or the fake chicken!

I served this with mashed celeriac and mushroom gravy that I started with the last of the compound butter. The citrus bite in the gravy was amazing!

*This is personally my favorite meat substitute brand.  It's the best gateway to vegetarian substitutes I know; I never have had a reasonable person (only people who are too picky about everything to count them) find it unpalatable, and you can make anything with it.  It's big in Europe; they even had it in pubs in London.  You use whatever you want, that can stand up to roasting.