The best meal round 1

According to my father's mother, making a roast chicken for dinner is about the best thing you can prepare. Tonight I am making the most delicious version I know of. I am pretty sure you could throw the whole thing on a sheet pan with some salt and pepper and it would be great. Add a few vegetables, even better.
My version tonight is adapted from a Food Network Magazine recipe. I follow most of the directions there but not all.
Please excuse the lack of step by step photos. I am no  Pioneer Woman. I love her so much but I am unable to photograph mid step and sometimes get a little too caught up in the process. I also don't lay out the ingredients like I am supposed to. Sure, Mise en Plas is great. I am a working lady who just graded about 100 papers.

You need a whole chicken, kosher salt, pepper, some rosemary (really any herbs you like), butter, onion, garlic, lemon, tomatoes, green onion, and any other veggies you like to roast with.

Turn the oven on to 425F degrees.
Pat the whole bird dry and salt and pepper it inside and out. Let it sit there for a while to dry out the skin. While it sits, mash the herbs into the butter. Using your fingers lift the skin from the meat and loosen it up under the breast and legs. Then take a spoonful of the herb-ey butter and stick it under the skin. I call this "adding implants." Moosh it around under the breast and the leg skin. This makes it delicious and moist.

Then squeeze half of the lemon in the cavity, toss in a half or quarter of an onion in there too along with a few cloves of garlic and a sprig of rosemary or thyme or both.
Some people tell you to truss the bird. Some say it doesn't matter. I like what the grocery store does with the rotisserie birds. Cut a hole in the skin under each leg and stuff the leg through the hole.

Ta-Da! Leg trussing without using twine. I don't really care about the wings, I tuck them under so they are not hanging out.
Other myth, you need a roasting rack. Sure they are great, get air under the meat, keep it out of the juices. I don't use one. I use my Great-Grandmother's really old roasting pan.  A rack would never fit in the well documented red, oval pan with the high domed lid and off-center handles. Instead, I cut the rest of the onion up along with other veggies on hand (this time it was a fennel bulb) and set the bird on top. It works like a mini rack and the roasted veggies are great for round 2.

Ok, toss the bird in the oven, set the timer for 25 minutes, pour yourself a glass of the good stuff and go check facebook for a while.

Beep!
Time to set down the pinterest/facebook/twitter and check on the bird.

First toss some scallions and tomatoes in a bowl with some olive oil and salt. Pour those into the roasting pan with the chicken and set the timer for 50 minutes. Chicken little needs to be 170F before you can take it out.

Back to the interwebs. I am not the superlady who does the dishes in between steps.
After it reads a done temp. in the thigh, take it out and let rest for 10 minutes.
Then carve the bird and enjoy. Be careful, the skin is delicious.