Fall is my favorite season (at least right now, at the change of summer into fall). I love the cool weather (or the cool nights anyway), the changing leaves, chrysanthemums in the garden, pumpkins appearing on people’s porches and getting back to using the oven after several months of trying not to turn it on if at all possible. I tend to do more baking in the fall than any other time of year, for example.
Roasting a whole chicken is an easy way of satisfying those nesting urges that many people experience in the fall, provides a hearty meal, warms the kitchen and makes the house smell really yummy. Although you can spend quite a bit of time making rubs and stuffing, they’re totally optional if you don’t have the time or desire for them and the chicken requires no effort at all once it’s in the oven.

Before I get to recipes, a word about the Co-op’s chicken: Rocky the Range Chicken was the first USDA-approved free-range chicken and Rosie was the first to be certified organic. They come from Petaluma Poultry in Petaluma, California, where they are raised in large, airy barns, not confined to cages. The chickens have access to the outdoors and are fed a strictly vegetarian diet with no animal byproducts and no hormones or antibiotics (Rosie’s feed is certified organic). Now, some of you may have read Michael Pollan’s disparaging remarks about Petaluma Poultry in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan draws a stark comparison between Petaluma Poultry, which is a relatively large-scale business, to Polyface Farm in Virginia, where chickens are pasture-raised, slaughtered on-site and customers buy direct from the farm.

I have to admit that for a while, after reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I stopped buying Petaluma Poultry products. But upon further reflection, I’ve realized that it’s not so awful. There are a few local farms from which one can buy chickens, but the reality is that they don’t produce enough to supply our entire community. And for people like me, who don’t have much freezer space and aren’t always good at planning ahead, being able to buy chicken at the Co-op an hour before dinner is a lifesaver.
And really, Petaluma Poultry products are far better than their conventional industrial counterparts. Their chickens are not confined to tiny cages, they are not de-beaked and they are not fed drugs, steroids or animal by-products. Just as importantly, Petaluma Poultry treats its humans (that is, its employees) well — they are paid competitive wages and receive a full benefits package. Petaluma Poultry was also a leader in the establishment of USDA organic guidelines, has fought to keep those guidelines intact and gives generously to local agricultural, environmental, educational and community groups.

I think lots of people start out buying a few organic products from their large grocery store, get hooked and start to seek out more, which leads them to a Co-op, then to local producers. And in that chain of events, large-scale organic production plays an important role.

The simplest way to roast a chicken is to turn the oven on to 375 degrees F, rinse and dry the chicken, put it in a pan and stick it in the oven. A good-quality chicken will taste good that way, but seasoning both inside and outside with a little salt and pepper, putting a few garlic cloves, a lemon and maybe a little rosemary inside the bird, requires little effort and adds quite a bit of flavor. Then you can eat roasted chicken for dinner one night, make a soup or salad with the leftover meat another night and make stock with the bones (search for Omnivoria: Homemade Stock at www.moscowfood.co-op for instructions). And here’s a recipe from Petaluma Poultry that’s a simple, one-pan meal in itself. Just serve with a tossed salad and enjoy!

Autumn Roasted Lemon-Rosemary Chicken with Apples and Potatoes
1 small lemon
1 whole chicken (4 1/2 to 5 pounds)
3 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 apples, each cored and cut into 8 half moons (leave peel on)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

For the Chicken:
Remove the bag of giblets and set aside. Rinse the chicken and pat dry inside and out. Pierce the lemon all over with small sharp knife. Put lemon in cavity of chicken. Tie chicken legs together with kitchen twine. Arrange on a V-roasting rack (or just set it in the pan if you don’t have a rack), breast side up, in middle of a large roasting pan; arrange potatoes, carrots and apples around it. *If desired, add liver and giblets to pan.

Lemon-Rosemary Seasoning:
In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, garlic and rosemary. Pour mixture over chicken, vegetables and apples, then spread mixture with fingertips to coat all surfaces.

Roast uncovered for 15 minutes in preheated oven. Turn heat down to 375 degrees and roast additional 1 hour 15 minutes, or until thickest part of thigh registers 180 degrees, breast meat registers 170 degrees and potatoes are tender and browned.

Alice is dreading the frost that will surely be here soon and kill all her wonderful tomatoes.