My "Dash" Oven Baked whole chicken

Tonight I made my family's favorite dish for dinner - the "Dash" oven Baked whole chicken. "Dash"? you said. Yes, a dash of this and a dash of that (get it?) :) I don't measure the seasoning in this particular dish. Since I have made it so many times, I kinda know how much to "dash" onto the chicken. You can do that too. Just look at the pictures below and you will be able to have your own "dash" oven baked chicken at no time. Promise. :)

Defrost the chicken in the refrigerator (not on the counter) - very important. I did this yesterday morning.

Today at about 1:00PM, I gathered all of the seasoning and these are what I used on the chicken today (clockwise): Butter, Organic sugar (sometimes I use honey), garlic powder, pepper, sea salt, soy sauce, fresh garlics, fresh red onions (I use whatever onion I have on hand).  Very commom ingredients

After I cleaned the chicken, I pat dried it with paper towel. It is crucial that the bird is pat dried entirely.

Yes, even the inside. :)

Time for a bird rub-down. I put on my kitchen glove (I don't like messy hand), and rubbed some butter (or oil if you prefer), on top and under the skin.

Added some sea salt.

Some ground pepper...

Shook on some sugar (this will help make the chicken skin crunchy and yummy).

Soy sauce for color.

After I gave the bird a good rub with all of the seasoning, I then slit some slits on the breasts....

and one on each thigh.

Pushed the fresh garlic gloves into the slits.

1, 2, 3... I have 8 - 10 slit son the bird. Poor birdie.

This is the easy part. I just threw some red onions on top of the chicken.

I placed the gizzards and neck at the end of the bird. I eat them. They are delicious to me. I let the bird marinated for a whole afternoon (minimum two hours). It smelled so good. The smell always make the kids feel hungry for dinner.

At about 4:30PM, I put the chicken into a 400 degree pre-heated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

40 minutes later... Sorry about the blurry picture. It looked better than this in person...

I placed a piece of parchment paper on top of the chicken and turned the oven down to 350 degree, for another 30 minutes. After that, I turned off the oven and left the chicken in the oven for another 10 minutes. So the total baking time was 70 minutes plus 10 minutes "cooling in the oven".

While the chicken is baking, I started the mashed potato process. When I make this chicken, mashed potatoes is always the most requested side dish.  Sometimes we have rice as a side dish.

Dinner is ready.

Joshua beggedd to eat it right the way (we were waiting for Robert and Christine, who were to come in at any time now).

While waiting for the two of them, I got my corn and peas ready. Do you like my frozen corn holder? I re-purposed it from the Taster's instant coffee" container. I am waiting for Roert to finish his coffee so I coudl have another one for the peas. The container store well in the freezer.

Mashed potatoes is ready...

So are the corn and peas.

Drained the corn and peas and added some butter. Now my favorite seasoning - the T.J.'s 21 Seasoning Salute!

Dinner was served and everyone liked it.  Peter ate half of my dinner for me (he doesn't have his own plate just yet).

This picture has nothing to do with the chicken.  Just want to show you what I am soaking away...

Oatmeal for tomorrow's breafast!

Oh and these are not dirty dishes. They are the dishes I am keeping (after I minimized the cupboard) for Christine in case she needs them in her first appartment or dorm. Some of them I think I will just give away. She really only need one set. I did finally put them all away while I was cooking tonight when I had some "waiting" time.