Roast chicken and potatoes 3 March 2006

Best eaten NOW!

Roast chicken almost always is a safe dish to serve with kids and adults alike. This recipe is so easy, yet will be so impressive to the “oldies,” because it looks like you labored over the hot stove for ages. And the kiddies will eat it, I assure you (much, much better than fried chicken or buying lechong manok for sure)!

This smells absolutely delicious while it’s cooking. You can vary the amount of herbs that your put and it ends up tasting just a little bit different each time. We like to serve this with roast potatoes on the side. But it goes well with steamed rice (oh-so-Filipino!), and leftovers (if you can manage not finishing it off) become a really mean chicken sandwich.

Ingredients:
Chicken, whole, wash and pat dry (about a little more than 1 kilo)
Salt
Pepper, freshly ground
Fresh herbs (basil, parsely, marjoram), about three handfuls, finely chopped
Olive oil, ¼ cup
Lemon, one that is halved
Bay leave
s, 4, torn and crushed
Rosemary, 2-3 sprigs, fresh
Potatoes, sliced quite thickly with skin on (scrub and dry well)

Directions:
Preheat the over and roasting tray to 425 deg F.

After washing your chicken inside and out, dry as much as possible with paper towels/dish towel.

Rub the entire cavity with salt. Carefully grab the skin at the tip of the chicken breasts and pull up gently … make sure it doesn’t rip! Gently separate the skin from the meat. Sprinkle more salt in between the skin and meat … and stuff your herbs in. Drizzle oil oil in.

In the cavity, stuff the lemon, bay leaves and rosemary sprigs.

Now, carefully pull the skin of the chicken breast forward so no meat is exposed. Tuck in the wings and tie up the legs with some twine. (In the pic, we improvised with some aluminium foil as sewing thread obviously wasn’t going to work.)

Slash the thighs about 3-4 times and rub in leftover herbs. Jamie says that this aids in allowing the heat the penetrate into the thigh meat, allowing it to cook faster; he loves overcooked thigh meat, apparently.

Slosh some olive oil over the entire chicken, season generously with salt and pepper. Give your chicken a good massage, allowing all the tastiness to penetrate the skin and meat.

Remove the hot tray from the oven and add a little oil. Lay the chicken breast side down and pop into the oven. Cook for 5 minutes then turn over the chicken. Cook for another 5 minutes and turn over, breast side down again. Cook another 5 minutes then turn over the chicken on its back and continue cooking until an hour.

Around the chicken, arrange your potato slices.

After an hour, the chicken should be golden brown, with crisp skin and moist tender meat. The potatoes should be slightly browned on the edges.

Don’t waste the excess fat that inevitably will end up on your tray. Drizzle over your potatoes and chicken when serving!

(Based on Jamie Oliver’s “My Perfect Roast Chicken” in The Naked Chef, p 120-122)