In Cooking for Jeffrey, Ina tells the story of how she learned to cook from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, making one intricate preparation after another. But it wasn’t until an elegant, and absolutely simple, dinner at a friend’s house, where she and Jeffrey enjoyed a whole roasted filet of beef, roasted potatoes and freshly baked baguettes, that she began to define her own cooking philosophy. She realized how sophisticated classic dishes, perfectly prepared, could be.  

This roast chicken is a great example; the easy, stress-free preparation calls for all of five ingredients, salt and pepper. Getting the bird ready for the oven takes 15 minutes and roasting it takes another hour and 15 minutes, meaning weeknight roast chicken doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea!

Roast Chicken with Radishes

1 (4- to 4 ½-pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 lemon quartered
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 ½ pounds fresh radishes, trimmed and scrubbed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Place chicken in a baking dish or roasting pan just large enough to hold the chicken and radishes. Since my hands will be inside the bird as I season it, I typically pour some salt and grind some pepper into a small bowl and pull from there, discarding what’s left, so I don’t have to continually touch the box of salt or pepper grinder with raw poultry on my hands. Season the cavity – the inside of the bird – with salt and pepper. Stuff the lemon and the thyme inside and, using butcher’s twine, tie the chicken legs together. Cut any large radishes in half so they are roughly the same size and place around the bird.

Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Brush melted butter over the chicken and radishes and sprinkle both liberally with salt and pepper.

Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the juice runs clear when you cut between the leg and thigh. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and allow bird to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Carve chicken and serve with radishes and pan juices.