(recipe from cooks.com)
Ingredients:
1-3 garlic cloves, halved
1 whole chicken thawed, rinsed and dried
4-8 fresh basil leaves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 lemon, halved (optional)
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rub surface of shallow baking dish with cut side of the garlic. Leave garlic halves in the dish. Place chicken in baking dish, breast side up. Slice open the chicken skin enough to tuck basil leaves under skin of each breast. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil over chicken.
(If you like you can also add quartered onions and new potatoes to the dish and drizzle them with olive oil and season them with salt and pepper.) If desired, squeeze juice of lemon half over chicken. Cut other half into 3 or 4 slices. Arrange on top of chicken.
Bake the chicken, basting with pan juices until browned and tender, about 60 minutes. Check for doneness with an instant read thermometer.
