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2 kg higher-welfare chickensea saltfreshly ground black pepper1.5 kg potatoes , peeled1 large lemon , preferably unwaxed1 whole bulb garlic , broken into cloves1 handful fresh thymeolive oil1 handful fresh rosemary sprigs , leaves picked8 rashers higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon , optionalRoast
chicken remains one of our favourite dishes at home. I recently
discovered a way to make the chicken taste even better, by putting a
lemon in with my potatoes when I was parboiling them. It smelt fantastic
and flavoured the potatoes. Then when I was draining them I decided to
stab the lemon, which hissed out juice and steam, and quickly jammed it
inside the chicken! The benefits of the hot steaming lemon going into
the chicken are very obvious as the meat tastes amazing, and the chicken
cooks slightly quicker because of it.Rub
the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and freshly
ground black pepper. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the
chicken and leave in the fridge until you're ready to start cooking it
for lunch or dinner. By doing this, you'll make the meat really tasty
when cooked. Preheat your oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Bring a large pan
of salted water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into golf-ball-sized
pieces, put them into the water with the whole lemon and the garlic
cloves, and cook for 12 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for 1
minute (this will give you crispier potatoes), then remove the lemon and
garlic. Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot so their outsides
get chuffed up and fluffy – this will make them lovely and crispy when
they roast.While the lemon is
still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times. Take the chicken out of the
fridge, pat it with kitchen paper and rub it all over with olive oil.
Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon and the thyme into the cavity,
then put the chicken into a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven
for around 45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Some lovely fat
should have cooked out of it into the roasting tray, so toss the
potatoes into this with the rosemary leaves. Shake the tray around, then
make a gap in the centre of the potatoes and put the chicken back in.
If using the bacon, lay the rashers over the chicken breast and cook for
a further 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes
are nice and golden. (You can tell the chicken is cooked when the thigh
meat pulls easily away from the bone and the juices run clear.)I
like to remove the bacon from the chicken and crumble it up over the
potatoes. Then I remove the lemon and garlic from inside the chicken,
squeeze all the garlic flesh out of the skin, mush it up and smear it
all over the chicken, discard the lemon and rosemary and carve the
chicken at the table. Heaven!https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/roast-chicken-with-lemon-and-rosemary-roast-potatoes/