Shared by Brenda Clough.

This is an easy, delicious, and cheap chicken recipe. It's cheap, because the cheapest way to buy chicken is as a whole bird. You need a chicken, and one flavoring agent: a lemon, an onion or orange, some garlic cloves, some sprigs or sprinkles of herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, or savory. Also a pat of butter or two.

If the chicken was frozen, thaw it. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Wash out the chicken, removing the little bag of giblets (very important!). Put it in a roasting pan, which you could line with foil for easy cleanup.

Put your flavoring agent inside the bird. If it's a fruit, cut it in half. Balance a pat of butter right on top, on the center of the bird's breastbone. If you have a second pat, put it inside.

Put the bird in the oven and let it cook for 60 minutes. It should be quite brown and crisp and appetizing-looking, but if it isn't (especially if you didn't thaw it long enough), give it another five or ten minutes. If the drumsticks start turning black at the tips, it's definitely done.

Remove and serve. Feeds four easily.