Foolproof Roast Chicken
Over a year ago
3,650 views
Ingredients
- 1 1.5 to 2kg Free range chicken
- ½ lemon
- olive oil for brushing
- salt and pepper
- 2 sprigs chopped tarragon
- 1 - 2 whole heads of garlic. optional
Accompaniment
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Description
My late mother-in-law: roast chicken queen!
Method
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1
Preheat the oven to 200 c. Put the chicken in a roasting tin and rub all over with olive oil. Squeeze the juice from the lemon half and pour it over the chicken. Rub in salt and pepper. Put the squeezed out lemon half and the tarragon inside the chicken. Put some of the tarragon under the chicken too. If you wish, you can also put whole heads of garlic, sliced in half across, under or by the chicken. Put the chicken in the tin, breast down, cover with foil and roast for 20 mins for each 500 g in weight., so eg a 1.5 kg bird will need 1 hour in the oven. Then take the chicken out, remove the foil, turn the bird over, baste the breast, legs and wings with the juices in the pan, put back into the oven for another 20 mins to brown. Let the chicken rest for 15 mins before carving.
Chef's Tips
Cooking the chicken breast-down at first, keeps the breast moist. If you wish, leave the lemon and tarragon out of the cavity and put in a stuffing. I've posted a couple of stuffing recipes that are quite simple and use leftover bread.
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