Raise your hand if you, too, are a Trader Joe’s fiend.

Keep it up if you’ve ever packed less than the bare minimum just so you’d have enough room to bring back a bursting-at-the-seams suitcase full of goodies.

And keep your hand up if you’ve gotten in trouble by security at a Trader Joe’s in Chicago for taking a picture of a liquor bottle on the shelf.

No? Just me?

😳

It’s okay. I don’t hold any hard feelings. I’m just happy that 2 years later, I no longer have to fly all the way to Orange County to get my Sweet & Salty & Nutty Trek Mix fix. And I am perfectly capable of getting almost thrown out of a grocery store near home, for free!

But the best part – a TJs will open less than 5 miles from this very location.

One of my (many) favorite things in the whole wide world is 21 Seasoning Salute. It’s (surprise!) 21 different herbs and spices packed a single bottle, making it perfect for shaking, baking, and roasting anything. But especially chicken.

Mixed with some lemon zest and honey, you get a compound butter jam-packed with flavor and perfect for slathering over an oven-bound chicken.

There’s something extremely satisfying about roasting a chicken on a Sunday afternoon, with a glass of wine in one hand and a new Food & Wine in the other. Maybe it speaks to that teeny tiny sliver of traditional domesticity that’s usually kept buried as far down as humanly possible. Or maybe it’s that I now have “leftover” chicken to throw together quesadillas and enchiladas for the rest of the week without having to invest too much time in a menu.

Yeah. That’s probably it.

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Simple Roast Chicken

A simple compound butter is the key to a flavorful roast chicken.

Ingredients

• ~5lb chicken
• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 tsp 21 Seasoning Salute (or your favorite multipurpose seasoning)
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 tsp honey

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Using a fork, mash together the butter, spices, lemon zest, a pinch of salt, and several grinds of pepper.
3. When mostly incorporated, drizzle honey over the butter and mash together.
4. Gently work your hands between the skin and the chicken breast, loosening it.
5. Take about half of the butter and spread it under the skin and spread the remainder over the outside of the chicken.
6. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and tie the wings down and legs together with kitchen twine.
7. Roast until a thermometer stuck in the thigh registers 165, about 1 hour (but rely on the temp, not the time).
8. Remove from oven, loosely tent with foil, and let rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Notes

Yields: ~6 servings

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Estimated time: 1 hour 30 minutes