The smell from your oven when you're making this Roast Chicken dish is incredible, and there is just something about cutting up a freshly roasted, steaming chicken after it's rested. That beautiful white meat on the inside and the crispy skin on the outside, my mouths watering just writing this! An excellent pairing with my Roasted Chicken & Lemon Thyme Jus.
Full recipe below and #YouTube video out soon!
Ingredients:
Small / Med / Large Good Quality Whole Chicken.
Bulb of Garlic
2-4 Fresh Lemons
Fresh Bunch of Lemon Thyme or Thyme
Butter
Olive Oil
Rock Salt & Black Pepper
Method:
The key to this one is the chicken, try to get the best one you can, organic, free-range, corn fed etc, it does make a difference. First of all, get the chicken out and let it breathe, you want to leave it for around 10-15 mins, in the meantime prep the stuffing & trivet etc.
Take your lemons, zest one and then chop them into halves. Grab 3 - 4 garlic cloves, peel and crush with the back of a knife. Take a deep roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and pop some of the lemon halves in, reserving 2 for the chicken cavity. We want the chicken to be elevated and not on the bottom of the roasting tray. If you have any other root veg lying around (carrots, parsnips etc), chuck that under the chicken, this will act as a trivet and help the chicken cook evenly.
Set the chicken on top of the lemons/trivet and drizzle well with olive oil, season generously with rock salt and pepper. Stuff 2 x lemon halves and several bunches of lemon thyme into the cavity, stuff in a few knobs of butter, then push the crushed garlic cloves and some lemon zest into the cavity and give it a good drizzle of olive oil. Take a few more knobs of butter and set over the top of the chicken, sprinkle over some more of the lemon thyme and the remaining lemon zest.
Follow your instructions for cooking your chicken, ensuring you baste every 20-30 mins, as the chicken is cooking the butter, olive oil and chicken fat will mix with the lemons, garlic and thyme to create the most amazing flavours. Rest your chicken for 30 mins and serve. If you have a chicken stock cube, a little cornflour and some boiling water, deglaze the chicken roasting tray, mash down all the lemons and trivet veg, simmer and sieve for the most amazing gravy :) Or check out my Roasted Chicken & Lemon Thyme Jus.