Roast Chicken with a Rosemary-Orange Butter Rub, Sugar Snap Peas & Sweet Corn, Mashed Potatoes and Pan Sauce

The Rosemary-Orange Butter was a success and this is definitely something we plan on repeating.

Mix 3/4 of a stick of softened butter, 1 shallot, 4 teaspoons of minced rosemary and 1 tablespoon of zested orange peel. When zesting, rotate your orange often as you don't want to include the pith - that's the white skin between the peel and the fruit - with the peel.

Use your fingers well with the skin - you want to be careful not to break the skin apart, but insure that you are able to get the rub inside throughout the chicken across the breast, thighs, and wings. I seasoned the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper and stuffed it with peeled boiling onions and the two oranges, sliced, zested and their juices squeezed over the top of the chicken, along with the remainder of the butter rub. Figure that half will go under the skin, half across and over the chicken, again paying attention to the thighs and wings.

I almost didn't make the pan sauce from the giblets, but I decided that I couldn't really call myself a foodie chef and avoid touching organs. As it was, they were all nicely wrapped in butcher paper stuffed inside the chicken so really, I didn't have to touch them - I just dumped them into a saucepan. adding 3/4 cup of dry white wine and 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, along with a chopped onion, 2 carrots, and 1 celery stalk.

When the chicken was nearly done, I steamed the sugar snap peas, started the sweet corn, and strained the potatoes to prepare for the mashing. As the chicken was setting, I mashed the potatoes and strained the sauce after adding the chicken roasted pan sauce. Total prep and cook time, from raw chicken to heaping plates was approximately an enjoyable 3 hours.