Perhaps I should change the name of this post to my last roast chicken.

Because I truly don’t know if I’ll ever bring myself to make another. I’m sure there are other delicious roast chickens out there – probably plenty, as most roast chickens are inherently delicious – but it can’t possibly get any better than this.

To start, there’s bacon.

See? That bacon cooks right on top of the whole party, injecting both the potatoes and the chicken with flavor.

Yes, it’s a party. Perfectly moist, juicy, and flavorful chicken + bacon + lemon-rosemary potatoes + roasted garlic = PARTY. Oh yes, that’s right – there’s roasted garlic. Can you see it in the first photo, rubbed all over the chicken? I.die. for roasted garlic.

But let’s get back to the bacon. Because after all is said and done, we’re going to take that bacon, and crumble it all over our potatoes. Our potatoes that have first par-boiled with lemon and garlic, and then roasted until perfection – covered in chicken juices, bacon drippings, and tons of fresh rosemary.

These potatoes are hands down the best I’ve ever had. I usually like to leave the skin on, because it makes me feel like I’m being healthy, you know – get more fiber, feel less guilty about eating half the pan. I put that {semi-ridiculous} theory aside here, and cooked them exactly the way Jamie told me to – and that’s what YOU must do. You really must. Because these potatoes are *so* unbelievably crispy, flavorful, and out-of-this world delish – you won’t be able to stop eating them.

Which actually may be a reason not to make them, depending on how you look at it.

Roast Chicken with Lemon, Rosemary, and Bacon Potatoes

Recipe via Jamie Oliver

• 4½ lb free-range organic chicken
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4½ lbs potatoes, peeled
• 1 large lemon
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
• Handful of fresh thyme
• Olive oil
• Handful of fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
• 8 slices of bacon

Rub the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do this as early as you can, and cover and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook. You should do this with any meat – it makes it more flavorful.

Preheat your oven to 375ºF, and bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cut the potatoes into golf-ball-sized pieces, put them into the water with the whole lemon and the garlic cloves, and cook for 12 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for 1 minute {I like to place a clean kitchen towel over top – steaming ensures crispy potatoes}, then remove the lemon and garlic. Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot, roughing them up a little bit. This will make your potatoes perfectly crispy and delicious.

While the lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times. Take the chicken out of the fridge, pat dry with paper towels, and rub generously with olive oil. Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon, and the thyme into the cavity, then put the chicken into a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Some lovely fat should have cooked out of it into the roasting tray, so toss the potatoes into this with the rosemary leaves. Shake the tray around, then make a gap in the middle of the potatoes and put the chicken back in, or if you have a pan with a tray like I do, you can place the chicken back on the rack. Place the bacon over the chicken and cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are nice and golden.

Remove the bacon from the chicken and crumble it up over the potatoes. Then remove the lemon and garlic from inside the chicken, squeeze all the garlic flesh out of the skin, mush it up and smear it all over the chicken, discard the lemon and rosemary and carve the chicken at the table.

“Heaven!” Jamie says, and I couldn’t agree more.