Our guest writer Jessie (aka mscooksalot) has loved cooking and exploring recipes for as long as she can remember. Passionate about real food, she wants to know what’s in it and where it comes from. Today she’s going to help us with her foolproof chicken recipe for beginners.
Roast chicken is one of the easiest but most useful recipes to have in your repertoire. I usually make one on a Sunday night for the 2 of us, and we have plenty of leftover meat to make at least one more dinner (usually a chicken and leek pie), plus some yummy sandwiches for a few days.
Or you can use the leftovers to make a simple pasta dish or curry as a quick and handy midweek dinner. You can even use the bones to make a delicious chicken stock which you can add to soups or stews to give them extra depth of flavour.
If possible buy an organic chicken, or at the very least free range, as it will make a big difference to the final flavour. Plus an organic or free range chicken tends to be less fatty and more meaty, so even though they will be more expensive, they are actually better value overall because you will get more out of them.
One of the most important tips when roasting a chicken is to let it get to room temperature (or thereabouts) before you begin cooking it.
Ingredients:
1 large organic or free range chicken (about 2 kg, with giblets if possible)
1 large onion
2 large carrots
2 sticks of celery
5 cloves or garlic
fresh herbs of your choice (I recommend thyme, sage and parsley)
1 tsp dried thyme
zest of 1 small lemon
50 g butter, softened
1 tsp olive oil
100ml water
sea salt
black pepper
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Method:
Leave your chicken out of the fridge for at least an hour, but preferably for 2 hours.
Preheat your oven to 220 C.
In a large stainless steel roasting tin, arrange your onions, carrots, celery and garlic into a sort of bed for the chicken to sit on. If you’re lucky enough to get giblets with your chicken, add them in too as they are full of flavour.
Make your flavoured butter by combining the butter, salt, pepper, herbs, lemon zest and garlic. At the neck end of the chicken, using either your hand or a large spatula, create a gap or pocket between the skin and the breast meat on both sides of the bird. Be careful not to break the skin while you’re doing this.
Stuff your flavoured butter under the skin on both sides and smooth it out as much as you can. This will help to keep the meat moist and will another layer of herby, lemony flavour to the meat.
Dry the skin with a kitchen towel and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and a small drizzle of olive oil.
Pour about 100ml of water into the pan to stop the bottom burning in the hot oven. Put the chicken into the hot oven and after about 10 minutes turn it down to 200 C. Roast the chicken for another 80 mins.
Check it every 20 minutes or so and baste it well to help it brown.
To test if it is done, insert a skewer or the point of a knife into the flesh between the leg and the breast. If the juices run clear, then it is cooked. If there’s any pinkish tint to them, then the chicken needs a bit longer in the oven. Once cooked, cover it in a double layer of tin foil and leave it to rest in a warm place for at least 10 minutes.
Make sure not to waste all the delicious juices at the bottom of the pan. You may want to transfer them to a jug and skim the fat off the top (save this for making roasters next time). If you’ve used a good quality bird, the juices should be delicious enough to serve as they are but they also make an excellent base for homemade gravy.
This is equally good served with some creamy mashed potatoes and greens of your choice, or some crispy roast potatoes and gravy. This is such a versatile recipe and you can easily vary it by adding different herbs or spices to the flavoured butter.
If you’ve never attempted a roast chicken before, I urge you to give it a go. You won’t be disappointed!
Enjoy!
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Are you tempted to try out this recipe? We’d love to hear all about it and do tweet us any pics of your finished chickedy.
If you’d like to read more from Jessie, you can check out her blog here!
