I suppose now’s as good a time as any to come clean- I’ve never caught on the whole Jamie Oliver craze, as much respect i have for the man for his talent and passion. Sure i flipped through his books on occasions, even borrowed a couple from the city library and jotted a few enticing recipes down, seen (and enjoyed) episodes from his shows on tv but i just somehow have yet to be blown away by him like so many people i know who enjoy cooking have been.
But after trying out this roast chicken and potatoes, I have to say that has all changed. This was easily one of the best roast chicken i’ve ever had.
The chicken, after a hour and a half in the oven, was roasted literally to perfection with its subtly lemon and garlic flavoured succulent flesh and skin perfectly crisp. The potatoes were just as divine as well. Boiled till just firm with the whole lemon and garlic cloves, then tossed in glorious chicken juices and rosemary and roasted till golden and crisp were simply divine.
My only gripe about this recipe? Through no fault of the recipe, the chicken takes a whole hour and a half to roast which seems more like eternity while the aroma of the lemony and garlicky roast chicken and potatoes start wafting through the house, giving just a hint of the heavenly meal to follow. But you know what they say, good things are worth waiting for. With roast this good, indeed they are.
Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary Roast Potatoes [taken from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Dinners]
Ingredients
2 kg whole chicken
2 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into golf-ball sized pieces
1 large lemon
Handful of fresh thyme
Handful of fresh rosemary
1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
- Preheat oven to 190C. Rub the chicken both inside and out with generous amounts of sea salt and black pepper, set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Place potatoes, lemon and garlic cloves in pot and cook for 12 minutes. Drain and replace lid, allowing potatoes to steam dry for about a minute. Meanwhile, pat chicken dry and rub with olive oil.
- Remove lemon and garlic from pot of potatoes, replacing lid and giving the pot a good shake to rough up potatoes. With a fork, stab lemon about 10 minutes, then stuff it, together with garlic cloves and thyme, into the cavity of chicken.
- Place chicken in a roasting pan and roast for 45 minutes. Remove pan from oven and transfer chicken to a plate. Place potatoes in pan and toss in rosemary and the juices collected in the pan. Make some space in the centre and place chicken back onto pan
- Bake for a further 45 minutes till chicken is cooked through and potatoes are golden brown and crisp.
