Saturday 6 August 2011

Sunday comfort: Roast chicken dinner


Last week i came down with a stinking cold. The kind where your head is all fuzzy, your voice goes croaky and riotous sneezes take over your whole body. yuck. All i really want to do when i have this kind of cold is stay home, curl up on the sofa and listen to FIP radio while i read my cookbooks.

Oh, and take a few minutes to pop a chicken in the oven to roast for our dinner. This recipe really can't be easier to make and delivers on what little effort you expend. This time round we had half the chicken as a roast dinner and the next day i made a big batch of chicken salad for sandwiches the rest of the week.

Roast Chicken
based on the recipe in Bistro by Laura Washburn

1 chicken
4 bay leaves
1 onion
2 lemons
lots of garlic cloves
mixture of dried thyme, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
glass of white wine
fresh thyme and sage


  1. Preheat the oven to 200C

  2. Cut the onion and one lemon into rounds and place on the bottom of a roasting tin

  3. Rub the inside of the chicken with the thyme-salt mix. Rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil and the rest of the thyme-salt mix.

  4. Stick a bayleaf under the skin of both legs and breasts

  5. Cut the other lemon into quarters and stuff in the cavity of the chicken, along with lots of peeled garlic cloves (i use a whole head), and the fresh herbs.

  6. Lay the chicken on one side on top of the onion-lemon layer and pour a glass or two of wine into the tin.

  7. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes, then turn over on it's other side and roast for another 40 minutes. Check to see if it's done by piercing the flesh of the leg and seeing if the juices run clear. If they are still a bit pink or bloody pop back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so.

  8. remove the chicken from the pan and rest for at least 15 min. Make a gravy from the juices in the pan. While the chicken is resting make your sides. this time i did parsleyed mash and sauteed courgette.

  9. eat and feel better instantly.

No comments: