Roasted Chicken with Garlic & Bread

Day One: 24 hours or so before, rinse and dry the chicken and season with salt & pepper. Salt it generously inside outside & under the skin, not a whole lot , its not a rub or a crust but 2-3 sprinkles more than you might normally use. Place on a rack set over a plate deep enough to catch any errant chicken juice. and leave as uncovered as you feel comfortable, the skin needs air to dry out. I create pathogen barrier of parchment or waxed paper, I'm fairly sure I am delusional about its protective properties but I have a small crowded fridge and its the best I can do.

This would be a good time to cut or tear the bread into bite size pieces, leave out in a bowl covered with a dishtowel over night

Day Two: Preheat oven to 375 and get all your garlic together and roughly chop half the herbs

Take the chicken out of the fridge and pat dry, removing any trace of moisture from the outside, lay it in a paper towels of a clean tea towel for a few minutes (10 or so) to take the chill off it

Toss the bread with @ 2 heads of the whole, lightly smashed garlic cloves, the chopped herbs, zest of half a lemon and the olive oil ( and whatever else you are adding)

Pour bread mixture in to the bottom of a roasting pan

Cut lemon in half, and stuff into chicken cavity with remaining herbs & garlic and truss. I would love to tell you how to truss a chicken but I can't, I end up in a wild sort free for all wrestling match with the thing, asking it to please keep it legs shut like a lady. I get'er done , but it ain't pretty

Nestle your trussed stuffed little chicken atop it's bed and place in the preheated oven

Depending on your oven you may need to rotate the pan every so often, and stir up the bread bits. If they get too crunchy looking splash a half cup of stock in there and mix it around.

After 50 -60 or so minutes (depending on the size and your oven) it should be done, you can test with a meat thermometer, it should read 165 for 15 seconds, when it is near done (150 degrees) you can add in the chicken liver either chopped of whole if you wish ( I usually do)

Remove from the oven and DO NOT TOUCH IT, just leave it be for 10 minutes while you get your veg together. This will give the juices time to settle in.

Untie the chicken, Remove all the stuff inside and throw it away. Carve or cut in to pieces with poultry shears as you wish, but do so over a plate or a flexible cutting board. Reserve juices.

The bread and garlic at the bottom will now be a myriad of textures, some garlic will be dark and sticky with chicken fat and some will be toasted brown, some may even still be sharp and garlicky. Pieces of bread will be crunchy, soft, gooey, chewy ...toss this all with the reserved chicken juice

Arrange on a platter with the chicken pieces on top, sprinkle with a bit of torn parsley if you have it for a bit of color.