ROAST CHICKEN WITH ROAST POTATOES & ROASTING JUICES
SERVES: 3–4
INGREDIENTS
1 free-range chicken (1.5–2kg) 2 tbsp olive oil
50g butter or goose fat
8 small sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves
6 plump garlic cloves 1.5kg potatoes
FOR THE GRAVY:
4 tbsp dry Marsala or white vermouth 200ml stock
Optional: half a lemon stuffing
METHOD
SET the oven at 200°C. Choose your heaviest roasting tin. A solid vessel is less likely to buckle when you transfer it to the hob to make the ‘gravy.’ Retrieve the bag of innards from inside the bird. (I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten to do that.) You can add them to the stock if the mood takes you.
PLACE the chicken in the roasting tin and season it inside and out with sea salt and pepper. (I prefer a coarse grind.) Rub the olive oil into the breast and legs, then massage the breasts, legs and wings with the butter or goose fat.
PUT half the thyme and the bay leaves inside the chicken and tuck the rest round the bird. If you are adding stuffing or lemon, do so now.
ADD the garlic to the pan. You will barely detect it as such, but the toasted cloves will lend a deeply pleasing, mellow sweetness to the juices.
WHEN the oven is hot enough, put the chicken in the oven. A 1.5kg chicken will take about an hour; a 2kg chicken 90 minutes. During cooking, baste the bird two or three times with the contents of the pan.
WHILE the bird is cooking, peel the potatoes and cut them into large pieces (about 45–50g each for me, but only you know what size you like your roast potatoes to be), then bring to the boil in deep, salted water. Once the water is boiling, let them cook for 10 minutes or until they will easily take the point of a knife. Drain them in a colander, then return them to the pan and give them a quick shake from side to side to rough the edges up. They will crisp lacily if their edges are frayed and bruised.
ONCE the chicken has been roasting for 25 minutes, add the potatoes to the roasting tin, turn them over in the fat and continue cooking.
THE bird is done when its skin is puffed and golden, the flesh firm and its juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a skewer at its thickest part. When it is ready, remove it from the oven, cover loosely with foil and keep in a warm place.
IF you have potatoes to brown, return them to the oven, putting the temperature up to 220°C and keeping a close eye on their progress. Watch that the pan juices don’t evaporate or burn. The potatoes will take up to 10 minutes. They should, rather neatly, be ready by the time the chicken has gathered its thoughts.
DURING COOKING, BASTE THE BIRD 2-3 TIMES