1/2 cup roasted garlic cloves
2 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 lemon, cut into pieces
2 bay leaves
1 (3 to 4 pound) whole chicken
Make a brine by combining roasted garlic, water, salt, pepper and olive oil in a ziplock style bag. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedges into the brine and add the bay leaves. Shake to dissolve the salt.
Rinse the chicken thoroughly under cold running water and place the chicken in the plastic bag. Squeeze out all the air from the bag and seal. Refrigerate all day.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the chicken from the brine and rinse thoroughly. Sprinkle salt and pepper generously over the chicken. Place the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan, breast-side up. Roast for about an hour, until a meat thermometer inserted into the meatiest part of the thigh reads 160 degrees F.