Today's Bento: I Know My [Roast] Chicken

Didn't bring Mr. Bento today - just two small plastic containers: one full of salad greens and homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing, the other loaded with roasted chicken and vegetables (carrots, potatoes and a nice, plump clove of garlic).

Brining the meat for 24 hours (have to get the recipe from John at some point; he certainly knows both his brines and his chickens) worked wonders. The bird was tender and moist -- ever so slightly tangy but not salty (even the breast meat, some of which I packed alongside a wing for today's lunch). The herbed butter (about 2 tbsp. + 8 sage leaves + salt and pepper, chopped and mixed in a food processer) we rubbed under its skin beforehand probably helped too.

We roasted the bird - breast-down for the first 30 minutes - on a bed of potatoes, carrots, garlic and onions for somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half, basting occasionally, till the meat thermometer told us we could stop. As noted, the meat was very good; the vegetables, alas, were a bit underdone, but that was our fault for not chopping them into small enough chunks.

UPDATE: Brine recipe is here, and in the comment below.