Crispy Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, giblets removed

4 T. unsalted butter, softened

1 T. dried herb mix (use whatever combination you like. I like Herbs de Provence)

1 t. black pepper

1 T. salt

2 cloves garlic minced

1 c. dry sherry

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine butter, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper forming a paste.

Rinse chicken, inside and out and pat dry. Using your fingers, very gently loosen skin on chicken. To do this start at the top of the breast and run your hands under skin all the way down to the drumsticks. Get as much of the skin loosened as possible, using care not to rip it.

Take butter mixture and spread on chicken under the skin, distributing over thighs, drumsticks and breast. Reserve 1 T. of herb butter and smear on the outside of the chicken.

Truss the chicken (if you don't know how, visit http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/trussing-a-chicken.html)

Place the chicken breast side down on a rack in a roasting pan. (Most of the fat in a chicken is in dark meat, so roasting it upside down for the first portion lets the chicken self baste with it's own fat and juices and keeps the breast from drying out). Roast the chicken like this for the first 3/4 of the total cooking time (as a general rule, most chickens take 20 minutes per pound, though an instant read thermometer inserted at different stages in the cooking is the best way to gauge the doneness of the bird).

After the 3/4 mark flip the chicken breast side up and turn the oven temperature up to 425. Add sherry to dripping in the bottom of the pan, and using a brush, baste the chicken with this liquid every 10 minutes until chicken is golden and crispy and your thermometer reads 165 (check the thighs).

Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes and serve.