Jim Botsacos’ recipe for roast chicken

Video: Roasted lemon-garlic chicken

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   >>> this is "today" on nbc.

   >>> this morning in "today's kitchen," we're going greek . with the beautiful weather outside, you don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. our hot chef has a fast and delicious roasted lemon-garlic chicken . jim, good to have you back. so you have little kids and you're cooking two different restaurants. how do you manage?

   >> lot of running around. but this is a real easy recipe. one of key things here is the chicken has to be boneless. treat the marinade. little peel of the lemon.

   >> start off with olive oil . you put all of the peel of the lemon in there.

   >> correct. little bit of garlic.

   >> what kind of spices?

   >> dry greek oregano. just put a small pinch of salt in there when you make your marinade, just to season it up a little bit. use that spoon. i'll squeeze that lemon. use the natural colander of the hands. perfect. pour that right over the chicken . you let that marinate just for about a half-hour or so.

   >> are you using what was a whole chicken that you've deboned.

   >> ask your butcher to do that for you. this is actually an amish grain-fed chicken . you can get this in the market or you can use any corn-fed chicken like other varieties as well.

   >> is it better this way with the whole chicken rather than the chicken breast ? does it taste better?

   >> you have the best part of two worlds here, your breast and your thigh all in one shot. so here you get your pan hot. completely boneless. put it in skin-side down. bring that temperature -- we're not going to put it in the oven. bring the temperature down to medium. about eight minutes, lower down to low about four minutes. after that point, this is where you're at. see how it's shrunken? you get the nice, crispy. golden, brown and dliselicious. then for about four minutes depending on the calibration of your stove. you can serve these pan juices with the chicken after you're done. i pull it out, always let it rest.

   >> because it cooks some more, right?

   >> you see that juice that collects there? that's going to be your sauce. take your chicken . i tossed up a greek salad . you're running into that season of tomatoes. take a couple of pieces of that dark meat. we're going to get into that long island season pretty soon, too, which is going to be great. cut that breast here. a whole chicken here, you can feed four people easily. we do that at home all the time. kids love it. i always give that piece with the bone to the kids because they love to gnaw on that. we're actually missing a spoon.

   >> just drizzle it right on.

   >> look at that.

   >> looks so good!

   >> this is for ann. she loves her salad. we're giving ann the whole bowl.

   >> okay. all right. i meet eat all of that. jim, your food is so authentic and there is so much integrity because you stay with what's pure and you just accent it.

   >> can i ask you, how do you make the salad dressing on the greek salad so perfect?

   >> a red wine vinegar with a little bit of olive oil . we actually use smashed garlic in that just for favoring accent. you're not actually going to bite into the garlic but i always like to put it in there, salt, pepper and a little greek oregano.

   >> always great. great to have you here. it's deliciousness as always, "gbd," golden-brown and delicious.

   >>> we have more coming up, including summer toys for your children.

   >>> and keeping your teens safe when they start to date. hoda and kathie lee coming up next. but first your

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