Martha's Perfect Roasted Chicken

My mother-in-law gave me a beautiful All-clad roasting pan for Christmas (something I had been wanting). I am just now posting this recipe, but I made it during my spring break cooking spree. This roasted chicken was so easy and so good. It's a Martha Stewart recipe that my sister sent to me. I got this sweet little chicken at Earth Fare for FREE and was excited to cook it. The only complaint was it was quite smokey to make. My sister made it too and had the same problem. The oven is so hot, I am not sure how to avoid the smoke. I just opened a window and turned on the fan. I used a very small chicken (about 2.5 pounds) and it made enough for four people. We used the leftovers in other recipes.

1 whole chicken

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil (not extra vrigin, I used light), plus more for the chicken

Remove gizzards and trim excess fat from chicken. Rinse chicken and let soak in warm water for 20 minutes. Pat dry. Coat the bottom of a heavy bottomed roasting pan with 1 Tbsp olive oil and set aside. Season chicken with salt and pepper and rub with olive oil. Transfer chicken to prepared roasting pan. Roast in a 475 degree oven, shaking bottom of the roasting pan to ensure chicken does not stick every 5 minutes, until an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees, about 40 minutes. Remove chicken from oven and let stand 10 minutes before carving.

With such a young chicken, the dark meat was really light-a treat because I don't typically like dark meat, but I ate all of this! Here's a picture of it all carved up, with Luther in the background checking the counter...