Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry before placing it breast side up in a 9″ pie plate, you can use anything you’d like to roast the chicken, I’ve just found a pie plate to be my favorite.

Make the garlic herb butter by mashing all the ingredients together. Rub the herbed butter all over the top of the chicken. Carefully loosen the skin covering the breast meat and rub some of the herb butter directly on the surface of the meat.

After you’ve rubbed the herb butter on, squeeze the half of lemon over the top of the chicken, being careful not to get any seeds in the dish. Add the 1/4 cup of water to the bottom of the pie plate and carefully place the plate in the oven to roast.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour 10-15 minutes or until the juices in the thighs are no longer pink and the internal temperature at the thickest part reads 165ºF on a thermometer. The roasting time will vary each time you roast a chicken depending on the size of your bird.

If you want to make an optional gravy out of the pan juices, simply dissolve 1-2 Tablespoons tapioca starch with 2-4 Tablespoons of water until there are no more lumps left. Place the roasted chicken on a serving platter to carve, and pour the juices into a medium saucepan. Bring the juices to a boil and slowly whisk in just enough of the tapioca mixture to thicken it to the texture you like your gravy. You may need to season it to taste with additional sea salt and pepper.

If you don’t want to make gravy be sure to save any additional pan juices for homemade soup!