Salt Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

1 (3½ lb.) whole chicken, room temperature   *   1/3 cup of chicken broth

3 Tbsp. Kosher salt, or as needed   *   1 Tbsp. water, or as needed

1 Tbsp. thyme leaves   *   2 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into four pieces

1 lemon, juiced   *   Pepper to taste

1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Pat outside of chicken with paper towels.  Tuck the wing tips underneath the chicken and place into large oven-safe skillet.

Generously sprinkle kosher salt into the cavity and over the back and sides of chicken.  Tie chicken legs together with kitchen twine.  Sprinkle salt generously over the breasts, coating them thoroughly. Wipe excess salt out of skillet with paper towels.

Bake chicken in the preheated oven until a meat thermometer inserted into a thigh reaches 160 degrees, 50 to 60 minutes.  Remove from skillet to a serving platter and let rest 5 to 10 minutes.

Blot about 90 percent of the chicken fat from the skillet with a paper towel held with tongs, leaving the browned bits of food in the skillet. Place skillet over medium-high heat and add thyme leaves.  Cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes.  Pour lemon juice, chicken broth and water into skillet, stirring until the browned bits dissolve and the sauce has reduced by about half, 1 to 2 minutes.

Reduce heat to low, add cold butter and stir until butter has melted and sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat and season with pepper and cayenne pepper to taste.  Spoon the sauce over chicken to serve.