Herb & Butter Roasted Chicken

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 F and have ready a roasting pan big enough to contain your chicken, but without too much excess room; either place a wire rack inside the pan or you can set a few whole stalks of carrot/celery underneath to act as a natural rack, you can even use crumpled up foil.

Step 2: Wipe the chicken dry using paper towels and set on the rack in the pan.

Step 3: Rub the chicken all over with lots of butter, sliding some some under the skin around the breast as well; be very generous.

Step 4: Season very generously with salt, pepper, and Canadian Chicken Seasoning Blend (or the chicken blend of your choice), rubbing it onto the skin so it sticks.

Step 5: Tear off some of the herb leaves and slide under skin of the breast meat, and then shove the remaining herbs (still on the stalk) inside the cavity of the bird.

Step 6: Loosely fill the cavity with your already cooked and slightly cooled stuffing (any kind you like) - the amount will vary based on the size of your chicken; you can bake the rest in another pan if you like lots of stuffing.

Step 7: Place an oven-safe thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh and roast until the skin has crisped up, the juices run clear, the bone joints move easily when you try to jiggle them, and the thermometer tests done for poultry (I usually go with 170-175F).

Step 8: To judge how long this will take to roast, I estimate about 25-30 minutes per pound, plus I add one extra "pound" to the total; so for a 3 pound chicken, roughly 1 1/2-2 hours (if you don't stuff the bird, it will be more like 20 minutes per pound).

Step 9: Allow to rest, tented under foil, for about 15 minutes before carving.