How about this one. Moe's favourite. I serve it with either pasta on the side, rice or with roasted potatoes and other vegetables.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Italian roasted chicken (Rosemary Lemon)
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Edited November 10th, 2006

This recipe is my version of the Italian Chicken we use to order in a Italian restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie. It can be made with small roasting chickens, chicken pieces or cornish game hens.

2 Cornish Game Hens
3 or 4 sprigs of rosemary
2 heads of garlic, peeled and cracked
salt, pepper
juice from one or two lemons
lemon zest (optional)
hot red pepper flakes
1/2 cup olive oil

Kalamata olives (optional)
chicken broth
. If using roasting chickens or game hens, split the birds down the back
and remove the back bone.

Place the chicken halves or pieces in the roasting pan. Toss in the
garlic cloves and the sprigs of rosemary. Season with salt, pepper and
red pepper flakes. squeeze the lemons over the chicken and drizzle with
the olive oil.

You can prepare the chicken up to this point and let rest in the fridge
for an hour or two.

Roast in a 450F

Check after about 20 minutes and add some chicken broth to the pan.
This will stop the garlic from getting burnt. (If you are using the
olives add them now) Add more if needed. When chicken is done, remove
from pan and add a little more chicken broth, stir and serve sauce over
the chicken.

My favourite side with this chicken is Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

Here is one I have posted before, from a Fine Cooking magazine a few years ago. I do it often and even did it last Christmas for about 85 folks! It is easy and delish. I sub regular potatoes for the sweet potatoes. I also get the thighs boneless as it makes it easier to eat!

Burnished Chicken Thighs with roasted root vegetables
Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons whole-grain dijon mustard

11/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 chicken thighs (about 6 ounces each, trimmed of excess fat and skin)

1 medium-large (12 ounces) sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 medium parsnips (6 ounces total), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 small shallots, lobes separated, peeled and halved through the root end

3 strips bacon

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

Stir together the oil, mustard, vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator, turning occasionally, for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours.

Heat the oven to 425 F. Arrange the chicken skin-side up on one end of a large, rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with any remaining marinade. At the other end of the baking sheet, toss together the sweet potato, parsnips, shallots and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer. Sprinkle the chicken and vegetables lightly with a little more salt and roast for 20 minutes. Baste the chicken with the pan juices using a brush and stirring the vegetables. Continue to roast, basting and stirring every 10 minutes, until the chicken is burnished -- deeply browned -- and the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes more.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon over medium heat in a large skillet until crisp, 5-8 minutes. Drain on paper towels. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, crumble it and toss it with the parsley. When the chicken is done, stir the vegetables and transfer them to a serving bowl with a slotted spoon. Toss with half of the bacon mixture. Baste the chicken and transfer with tongs to a serving platter. Sprinkle with the remaining bacon mixture and serve hot. Serves 4.

Nothing specifically 'Italian' about this except that I got it out of Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking"--it's a delicious roast chicken with lemons, nearly foolproof. If you can find a free range bird for this, do so; but even with ordinary supermarket poultry it's very good.

Roast Chicken with Lemons
from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan Knopf, 1995
If this were a still life its title could be "Chicken with Two Lemons." That is all that there is in it. No fat to cook with, no basting to do, no stuffing to prepare, no condiments except for salt and pepper. After you put the chicken in the oven you turn it just once. The bird, its two lemons, and the oven do all the rest. Again and again, through the years, I met people who come up to me to say, "I have made your chicken with two lemons and it is the most amazingly simple recipe, the juiciest, best-tasting chicken I have ever had." And you know, it is perfectly true.
For 4 servings
Ingredients
# A 3- to 4-pound chicken
# Salt
# Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
# 2 rather small lemons
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it. Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels.
3. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.
4. Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel. Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand. Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.
5. Place both lemons in the birds cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string. Close it well, but dont make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.
6. Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up. When turning it, try not to puncture the skin. If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later. Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.
7. Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 400 degrees, and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound. There is no need to turn the chicken again.
8. Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious. Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.
Ahead-of-time note: If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven. If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.

Marcella's recipe from arley is SO simple and SO delicious. It doesn't get better than that.

Thank you all for the help! Another great photo, ann !! (I'm hungry already!)

Smiles,
Sooz