BAKED GARLIC AND LEMON ROASTED CHICKEN

Roast chicken is a dish that appears in a wide variety of cuisines worldwide. Generally, the chicken is roasted with its own fat and juices by circulating the meat during roasting, and therefore, are usually cooked exposed to fire or heat with some type of rotary grill so that the circulation of these fats and juices is as efficient as possible

This is one of our favorite Sunday lunches here at CannaCook

Ingredients

THC

6.0 mg per serving

24 mg total recipe

4 SERVINGS

1 3½–4 lb. whole chicken

1 cup butter 1 lemon 1 head of garlic

4 tbsp. cannabis infused olive oil

1 tbsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp sumac

8 sprigs of thyme

4 sprigs rosemary

1 yellow onion

1 celery stalk

1 carrot

1 fennel bulb

1 cup apple cider Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper

Steps

1. Arrange a rack in the center of your oven, and preheat to 425°. Cut 1 lemon in half crosswise and remove any visible seeds. 2. Cut 1 head of garlic in half crosswise. (If it falls apart a bit, don't sweat it.) 3. Melt ½ stick butter in a small saucepan or microwave in a small bowl. 4. Place 1 3–4-lb. whole chicken on a cutting board (best to use a plastic one you can sterilize). A word on bird size. A 3–4-lb. chicken is pretty much the ideal size for roasting this way. Something a little bit bigger will work, but once you get much past 4½-lbs. it becomes harder to guarantee that the breast meat won't dry out in the time it takes the dark meat to cook. Pat the whole thing dry with paper towels. It's super important to get the chicken as dry as possible, which helps with browning. 5. With chicken breast facing up and legs pointing toward you, use a sharp knife to slice through loose area of skin connecting the leg and breast, making about a 3"-long incision. Continue cutting downward until you hit the joint that connects the thigh to the body, then stop (once you get through the skin, there’s not much there; if you are cutting through flesh, you’re too close to the breast). This exposes the leg joint, making it easy to tell if chicken is cooked. Repeat on second side. 6. Season every surface of chicken, including skin along backbone, inside cavity, under wings, and inside part of the leg you just exposed, with lots of salt and pepper. If you’re using kosher salt, it should take you 4–5 generous—as in, four finger—pinches, which will be around 4 whole teaspoons. 7. Transfer chicken breast side up to a large oven-safe skillet. Arrange lemon and garlic cut sides down in skillet around chicken. 8. Drizzle chicken all over with melted butter (mmmmmmm) and transfer to oven. 9. Roast until chicken is nicely browned and cooked through, checking for doneness after 45 minutes. To check, carefully remove skillet from oven (the handle is hot!), poke a knife into leg joints, and pierce the meat. If juices run clear, the chicken is done. If you see a rosy pink color, it needs more time. Continue to roast, checking every 5 minutes, until juices run clear. (If you’re not sure, you can also use the knife to lightly shred some of the meat along the thigh bone—the meat should look opaque and the fibers should separate easily.) 10. Let chicken rest in skillet at least 15 minutes before carving—this will help the juices in the meat to settle, and will also get it down to a temperature that is cool enough to handle with your bare hands while carving. Don't worry: It's a big piece of meat, so it will still be plenty warm by the time you serve it. Transfer chicken to a platter.

11. take all of those glorious, buttery pan juices and blend with a stick blender slowly adding the cannabis infused olive oil. pour over top of the meat and serve with roasted lemon and garlic alongside. Winner, winner, BAKED chicken dinner!

Why is olive oil popular for cannabis infusion?

Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) is widely known as one of the world’s healthiest oils.

Like hemp seeds and hemp seed oil, EVOO has a high percentage of omega-3 fatty acids.

EVOO is also extremely rich in antioxidants. It contains polyphenols which act as antioxidants by reducing oxidative stress throughout your body.

Antioxidants also aid in strengthening your immune system, making your body more resistant to infections and inflammation.

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL VS. PURE OLIVE OIL

There are many different types of olive oil on the market today.

Extra-virgin olive oil is unrefined and the highest-quality olive oil you can buy.

It is cold-pressed, meaning that it undergoes no heat during extraction and is in its raw, organic form.

It also contains more of the natural vitamins and minerals found in olives.

Finally, extra virgin olive oil has more of the true olive taste, and it has a lower level of oleic acid than other olive oil varieties.

Pure olive oil is a blend of both cold-pressed EVOO and other processed oils.

Extracting this oil involves heating and/or chemical use, removing any flaws from the fruit.

Pure olive oil is of lower quality when compared to extra-virgin olive oil.

It also has a lighter color, a more neutral flavor, and a higher oleic acid content (3-4%).

COOKING WITH CANNABIS-INFUSED EVOO

Extra-virgin olive oil has a smoke point of 400° Fahrenheit, which is why EVOO is oftentimes suggested to be used for dips, dressings, and any other uncooked recipes.

Pure olive oil is considered an all-purpose oil.

It is much lighter in color and can withstand higher heat, making it a more useful oil for frying and other cooked applications.

Like olive oil, when working with cannabis, maintaining an ideal temperature is critical.

Heating cannabis at too high of a temperature can denature the compounds and create little to no effect.

If cannabis is heated above 300° Fahrenheit, you run the risk of denaturing many important plant compounds.

For this reason, we recommend using a digital-read thermometer during your cooking process to ensure you never go above the safe temperature threshold.

That is why, if you are going to be using olive oil for cooking, choosing a pure olive oil to infuse will be the best choice.

If you plan to use olive oil for non-heat cooking methods, extra virgin olive oil is recommended.