Inroduction
About this Recipe
Mum´s roast chicken was the go to Sunday meal. She also liked the idea of playing around with the leftovers – sandwiches, curry, salad – “You can do so much with it.” Another one of her expressions. Learn more about the versatility of a chicken here What’s with chicken?
Ingredients
- 1 (approx. 2,5 Kg) roasting chicken
- 1 large bunch fresh thyme, or dried thyme
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 -2 lemons cut into quaters
- 50-80g Butter can be melted if you prefer
- 1 head of garlic cut in half
I think chicken has to be one of the most comforting foods around, almost in any form. As a child I grew up in towns as opposed to in the countryside. There were a lot of convenience foods in the sixties. Convenience being the main selling point. I doubt that my mum would have thought about the Chicken having had a good life. On the other hand, we certainly did not eat as much meat then as we do now. Actually I am overal vegan now, but my husband is a meat lover so I still cook meat.
Nutrition
Roasted chicken is definitely a good source of protein. It does contain saturated fat, but not too much in one portion. If you accompany it with lots of colourful vegetables it´s a good meal.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 210°c. Wash your organic chicken (about 2.5 Kg), take the giblets out, and pat it dry, so that the butter and herbs stick to the skin. Place it on a clean board.
Step 2
Then cut an organic untreated lemon into quarters and put it inside the chicken with a whole bulb of garlic and a generous sprig of thyme. Melt some butter and brush it gently all over the chicken, or just rub the room temperature soft butter on. Give the chicken a massage.
Step 3
Then season with a generous portion of salt and ground pepper, to make the skin tasty. (I think tasty was one of my mum´s most used words – If she said “It´s very tasty”, when you’d cooked something for her, that was like an A+) After this, tie the legs together with some kitchen twine, and push the wings under the chicken, this helps everything to cook evenly.
Step 4
Place the chicken in a roasting pan or on a roasting grid above a pan in the oven at 200° for one and fifteen minutes or 1 and a half hours – it depends on your oven and how crispy you want it. The skin should be crispy and the meat tender and juicy.
Step 5
When you take it out, the kitchen will smell enticingly of chicken, lemon and thyme. Let it rest for about half an hour, covered in foil, so that it doesn’t get cold. And if any unexpected guests turn up, invite them to join you for your meal!
So that´s a slightly modified version of mum´s roast chicken.
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