Roast Chicken Three Ways

During the winter months, my husband and I go through a lot of chickens. Sunday is roast chicken night, and since we don't want to get bored eating roast chicken, we have a few recipes we work from. I've already mentioned my standby roast chicken, based on Ina Garten's recipe, but I also like to do a roast chicken provencal, loosely based on Gourmet's braised chicken recipe, and a spiced chicken from Claudia Roden's Arabesque cookbook. In any case, I roast the chicken at 400 degrees for about 1.25-2 hours, depending on the size of the bird.

I usually get my chicken from Savenor's, after years of being disappointed with supermarket chickens and Whole Foods. The chickens would not last in my fridge even for a day or two, and would often have an off-smell from the packaging. I have tried three kinds of chickens carried at Savenor's: grade A, Giannone air-chilled, and Misty Knoll Farms. I have found that the Misty Knoll chickens are head and shoulders above the others for taste, juiciness, freshness and size. They are definitely more expensive, but since changing over, I have found that one chicken can feed my husband and me for at least 2 dinners, sometimes even 3. For that, it's well worth the extra cost to me.

My standby roast chicken: 3-4 vegetables (choose from quartered onions, yellow potatoes, carrots, parsnips, fennel, beets and sliced acorn squash) in the bottom of the roasting pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay on top of the veggies a roasting chicken, with salt and pepper both inside and out, and the cavity stuffed with a head of garlic (sliced through crosswise), a couple of lemon quarters, a celery stick and a handful of parsley. Serve with roasted brussels sprouts or a crisp salad.

My provencal roast chicken: quartered tomatoes, fennel bulb, onions and black brined olives in the bottom of the roasting pan with olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh thyme sprigs and herbs de provence. Lay on top of the veggies a roasting chicken, seasoned as above, with herbs de provence, garlic, lemon, fennel stalks and celery in the cavity. Serve with Alice

Waters's fingerling potato coins for a rich and homey, stick-to-your ribs dinner, or with couscous for a lighter spring dinner.

Finally, my spiced chicken: lots of quartered onions (or whole peeled shallots) on the bottom of the roasting pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay on top a roasting chicken, seasoned with a pasty mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, salt and pepper and honey. Serve with couscous or rice pilaf and some lemony, garlicky sauteed greens.