ROAST CHICKEN with GRAPES

Roast Chicken 

I found this recipe at Simply Recipes
"The grapes not only absorb the juices and flavor of the chicken, the chicken absorbs the sweet juice of the grapes, making this a succulent way of preparing roast chicken. Note the way that the chicken is cooked breast down. This helps the breast stay moist."

1 roasting chicken, about 4 to 5 pounds
1 lemon, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, cut into eight wedges
1 large bunch of seedless grapes
several sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 cup of white wine
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Rub inside of chicken with olive oil. Sprinkle insides with salt and pepper. Remove about a cup's worth of grapes from their vines and cut in half. Insert grapes into cavity. Add one half of the onion wedges into the cavity, along with a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary. You do not need to remove the rosemary from the stalk. Add a half of the lemon slices to the cavity. If you still have more space in the cavity, add more grapes.

Rub olive oil over the outside of the chicken. Place in a casserole dish or roasting pan, breast side down. Sprinkle outside of chicken with salt and pepper. Place sprigs of rosemary and slices of lemon between the wings and the body of the chicken. Arrange the remaining grapes, lemon slices, and rosemary around the sides of the chicken.

Roast at 350 degrees F in the oven for about 20 minutes per pound. Baste with the juices from the chicken and the white wine several times during the cooking. Place a meat thermometer deep into the chicken breast. When meat thermometer temperature reading reaches about 175 degrees, the chicken is done.

Serve with rice, and include the cooked grapes and juices.