Roasted Whole Chicken and Brussel Sprouts

With racks on bottom two levels of oven, preheat oven to 450:
Put a rinsed, dried (with paper towels), and devoid of giblets whole chicken in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle generously with freshly ground salt, pepper, and I threw on some thyme.  Place on the upper rack.  Turn oven down to 400 after 15-20 minutes.  Take dog on a walk and enjoy the actual sunshine happening.  I'm going to let it roast for like 1.5+ hours, since it's a big chicken (6 lbs).  I think smaller chickens would take about an hour.

The kitchen now smells delicious, this might make it smell decidedly less so, but will taste delicious:
Triangle Girl taught me this one: put whole brussel sprouts on a cookie sheet.  (Take off yellow or brown-ish leaves, a few of the really large ones I cut a slit into.)  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.  Put on the bottom rack of the oven for like 35-45 minutes, until they seem done.  Stir them around occasionally. Some leaves will fall off and get caramelized and rather crispy.  These ones are especially delicious.   I'm trying to time it such that the brussel sprouts and chicken will be ready at the same time.

The whole chicken will give me plenty for several meals/snacks this week, maybe some to freeze.  I haven't tried it yet, and I'm not going to today, but my next chicken, I will take the carcass and make some chicken broth with it.

Scooter

Update 1/16/11:  I should warn you, this can make a MESS of your oven.  Maybe put a cookie sheet on the rack below to try to catch spatters?  You could also cover it, but the skin won't come out as crispy and delicious.  Weigh the options....