Uh-Mazing Chicken

So its not really a secret my Hubby cooks most of the meals.  At least the ones that require effort and more than 5 ingredients.  I'm not really sure how he found this recipe, but its absolutely amazing and I'm not asking questions.  We (he) have made it twice, each time wonderful.  Its as close to the big "O" you can get while eating chicken. Anyway, here is our (his) version.

Ingredients:

• 5 springs of Thyme
• 6 cloves of garlic
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• 4 Tbl unsalted butter
• canola oil
• 1 whole chicken 3.5-4 lbs
• Four carrots, peeled, sliced so they were all even lengthwise, then in half, then into 1/2″ sections(we actually used baby carrots)
• Two parsnips, peeled, sliced like the carrots
• Two leeks, washed and sliced into circles
• One rutabaga, the rind removed, cut up
• One onion, peeled, quartered at the root, and the root left attached
• Eight little red potatoes, whole ( we used fingerling potatoes once and liked them better)

(ok, so we really aren't adventurous vegetable people, we just used carrots, potatoes, onion, and celery)

Preheat oven to 475
Smash three of the garlic cloves, place them with the vegetables in a bowl.  Add 1/4 c canola oil, some thyme, and lots of salt and pepper.  Lots.
Remove the chicken from its packaging.  Hopefully, you bought one that doesn't have innerds.  If you did, remove them.  Rinse chicken in cold water and pat dry.
Smash the rest of the garlic, rub it and the thyme inside the chicken.  Rub the inside with more salt and pepper.  Trust me, it will be yummy.
Lovingly rub the outside of the chicken with canola oil, and, you guessed it, salt and pepper it, too.
Place the veggies in a large cast iron skillet.  High on the sides, shallow in the middle.  The chicken goes in the middle, surrounded by goodness.  Place the butter pats on the chicken breast.
The whole thing goes in the oven at 475 for 25 minutes.  Then, decrease the temperature to 400 for another 45 minutes.  We actually use a probe thermometer while cooking to ensure the internal temp gets to 165.
Bring the golden goodness out and tent is up with foil.  Let it rest for about 20 minutes.

Now, my hubby, being the unique creature he is, doesn't care for gravy.  How God can allow that, I'm not sure.  Under that chicken are savory juices just dying to be made into a gravy.  I'm hoping next time we make the chicken I can save those juices and work some magic.  Unfortunately, it hasn't happened yet.
Eat the chicken and veggies right away.  Don't delay.  The first time, plan on eating half a chicken.  If you are feeding more than two adults, make another bird. I actually ate all my veggies and wanted more.  Ask my mom how much of a miracle this is.  The second time, I paced myself.  We had bread with dinner and I snacked while waiting.  I had left overs for the next day.  Absolutely, Uh-mazing chicken.  Let me know how yours turns out, if you make gravy, and if you share.