Roast Chicken

It's been 19 years since I talked roast chicken on this blog, what's changed? A few things though the recipes aren't that much different! Here's one I cooked with my nephew over the summer. So easy a 12 year old can do it.

 

I've got some warm unsalted butter and mashed in a clove of garlic and some garden herbs (thyme and either rosemary or tarragon) with the zest of a lemon, and a bit of salt and pepper. Then we reach under the skin of the chicken (it's been out the fridge for half an hour to take the edge of the cold off) and we stuff the butter underneath, spreading it out over the entire breast.

The lemon we took the zest from is cut in half and put in the cavity. Any left over butter is smeared on the outside, especially over the legs.

This was in my Mum's oven so we used her roasting wrap. The oven was on at 190C and we gave it an hour before taking a look. Because it's wrapped up and full of butter it doesn't need basting.

After an hour the skin was not browning as well as we hoped so we unwrapped it for another 20 minutes (it's a good sized chicken). After that time we poked it with a skewer in some of the deepest sections and the juices ran clear. We left it to rest until it was time to eat, when my Dad carved it (something with bones isn't a good starting carve for a tween).

The advantages of doing it this way include not having to baste the chicken, as the butter keeps it moist, and infusing the flesh with herb, garlic and lemon zest flavours. The tricky part is getting the butter up under the skin without tearing it.

We all enjoyed this chicken.