Roasted Tarragon Cream Cheese Chicken
Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
1 whole chicken, 3 to 4 pounds
3-4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 large lemon (or 2 small lemons)
1 1/2 tsp dried tarragon (for cream cheese mixture) + another 1/2 tsp dried tarragon (to sprinkle on top of chicken)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Directions
remove giblets from inside chicken and rinse thoroughly. Allow chicken to air dry for 15 minutes and then pat dry with paper towel;
2) Soften cream cheese in microwave (about 45 seconds). Once softened, add tarragon to cream cheese and mix thoroughly;
3) Using your fingers, loosen the skin over the breast gently. Do not tear the skin;
4) Spoon cream cheese mixture between the skin and the breast meat, coating evenly. Re-cover the breast with the loosened skin;
5) Pour fresh lemon juice over entire chicken (top, bottom, inside, outside);
6) Sprinkle chicken with a small amount of tarragon and season very lightly with freshly ground black pepper;
7) Take whole lemon, roll between counter and palm a few times to get it nice and juicy. Poke lemon 8 times with fork and stuff lemon into body cavity of chicken;
8) Put chicken, breast side up, in a shallow roasting pan and place in a pre-heated 375 degree F oven for roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours, removing when temperature of thigh meat is 170 degrees F (if chicken starts to get too brown, put a loose aluminum foil tent over it);
9) Let chicken sit for 5 minutes after removing from oven;
10) Carve, eat, and enjoy!