Sunday, July 27, 2014

Easy Chicken Roast

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken
Minced garlic(1 whole clove)
Cayenne/Red chilli powder - 2tspn
Crushed black pepper - 1 tspn
Dried onion powder-2 tbs*
Peanut oil/Olive oil - (3-4) tbs
Dried thyme - roughly 2 tbs
Dried oregano - roughly 1 tbs
Baby potatoes(you can leave the skins on) washed thoroughly - about 10-12
Baby onions(again you can leave the skins on if you feel they are clean) -10-12
Lemons- 2 large ones
Finely chopped coriander/parsley - about a handful

salt to taste

Preparation:

Step 1 :
Preheat the oven at 180°c.Prepare the rub by adding in the minced garlic,onion powder,cayenne powder,black pepper,chopped parsley,salt and sufficient oil to mix it all up well in a bowl.

Step 2 :
After the chicken is completely skinned,washed,cleaned and pat dried;apply the rub on it and massage it well;taking care to put some of the rub inside the cavity as well.Use a spoon or a brush if you must.

Step 3:
Prick the lemons well with a fork and place them inside the cavity.At this point you can tie the thighs together with a string to avoid the moisture from chicken escaping out and hence helping it to cook well from inside.You can skip the tying part if you wish and directly place the chicken backbone side up in the baking tray.

Step 4:
Toss the baby onions and baby potatoes in the remaining rub and just randomly place them in the tray along with the chicken.Personally i like to line the tray with aluminium foil before placing the chicken in to save on a lot of washing up later.

Step 5:
Pour a generous amount of oil over the chicken and the veggies and cover the entire tray with foil.Place it inside the oven at about 165°c for about 35-40 mnts.
After this remove the foil nd raise the temperature of the oven to 200°c and cook for another 10 mnts.This will crisp up the chicken.

Step 6:
It is a good idea to let the chicken rest for a couple of minutes after it is done.
Place the chicken on a chopping tray.Now simply use a kitchen knife to cut along the breastbone and the backbone to split it into two,and further along the joint above the thigh to make four large pieces in total.
Collect the juices from the tray nd season if needed.
Serve it hot with roasted veggies on the side and spoon the juices that you collected over it.
Bon Appetite :)

*dried onion can also be easily prepared by roasting,cooling and then grounding thinly sliced onions lined up on a baking tray on moderate heat in a conventional oven.