lemon and rosemary roast chicken

With our under-the-stove oven serviced and the advice of the service technician ringing in my ears (which is that we need to use this oven more often otherwise the heating element would spoil easily), I have finally plucked up my courage to roast a whole chicken.

Surfing the internet for an easy recipe that I can adapt/adopt, I came across a recipe for oven roasted chicken in HHB's blog.

The steps in HHB's recipe seemed easy enough to follow. However, I made a mistake of buying russet potatoes instead of harder potatoes such as Holland potatoes. I ended up with potatoes that softened too easily and were crushed under the weight of the chicken. As such, do excuse the seemingly burned portions that you see in the photographs in this post. The chicken and the potatoes actually turned out very delicious, with the exception of most of the potatoes being crushed.

Another tip that I have since learned from SC (who in turned learned it from her godmother) is that if you are roasting food in the oven, it would be advisable to butter the aluminium foil before you place the raw food into the roasting pan.

If you have never tried roasting chickens in your oven, do give it a try. It can take quite a bit of time and involves turning the chicken over during the roasting process but the end result is worth it.

I have made some modifications to HHB's recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1 lemon

2 tsp freshly ground mixed peppercorn

2 tsp fine salt

2 tsp dried Italian herbs / dried mixed herbs

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 medium-sized chicken

butter

1/2 kg large potatoes (buy the type of potatoes that do not soften as easily as russet potatoes)

salt

freshly ground mixed peppercorn

olive oil

METHOD

1. Grate the zest of the lemon in a bowl. Add the freshly ground mixed peppercorn, fine salt and dried herbs. Mix well and set aside.

2. Remove the head and feet of the chicken. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry the chicken (including the cavity) using paper towels.

3. Place 1/3 of the seasoning mixture in the cavity of the chicken.

4. Using your fingertips, gently separate the skin from the meat of the chicken breast and push some of the seasoning mixture under the skin. Massage the skin lightly so that the seasoning mixture is spread out under the skin.

5. Rub the balance seasoning mixture over the entire chicken.

6. Leave the chicken in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight (up to a maximum of 24 hours).

7. When the chicken has been marinated, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Brush softened butter all over the chicken.

8. Peel and halve or quarter the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a pot of water with a pinch of salt and the whole lemon. Bring to the boil and cook for another 10 minutes. Drain and set aside for 1 minute. Toss the potatoes with some salt, freshly ground mixed peppercorn and olive oil.

9. While the lemon is still hot, pierce it with the tip of a sharp knife numerous times. Stuff the lemon inside the cavity of the chicken.

10. Line a roasting pan with aluminium foil. Brush the aluminium foil with some butter.

11. Arrange the potatoes in the roasting pan.

12. Tuck the wings of the chicken under the chicken and place the chicken (breast side up) on top of the potatoes. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 45 minutes.

13. Turn the chicken over and bake for another 30 minutes.

14. Take the chicken (breast side up) again and roast for 15 minutes.

15. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and let the chicken rest for 10 minute before carving the chicken.