Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken ( a 1.5-2kg chicken will feed 6 people)
- 125g of butter, brought to room temperature
- 1 tablespoons of salt
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- A few sprigs of thyme, optional
- 1 lemon
Method
- Prepare your chicken ideally the night before. Pat dry with a paper towel to remove as much moisture as possible. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt onto the chicken and place into the fridge in a dish uncovered overnight to dry out.
- Pull out of the fridge in the morning of eating and allow it to come back down to room temperature- approx 2 hours. If you roast a cold chicken in the oven it will cook unevenly with the outside overcooked and the interior undercooked.Â
- Prepare the butter rub by combining the butter, a generous pinch of salt, garlic cloves and zest of the lemon into a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Use your fingers to gently separate the skin from the chicken starting from the cavity where the breasts begin all the way to the legs.
- Use your hands to push chunks of the butter underneath the skin and then all over the chicken.
- Truss the legs of the chicken with some cooking twine so they cross over and rest on top of the breasts.Â
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and plan to roast your chicken 2 hours before serving.
- Transfer the chicken onto a baking tray and place in the oven cooking for about 1.5 hours, turning the baking tray every 30 minutes.
- Pull out the chicken once fully cooked and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.
- Carve your chicken into 6-8 pieces: 4 breast pieces (cut each breast into halves), 2 thigh pieces and 2 drumsticks. Place onto a large platter. Drizzle over the pan juices.
- Serve the chicken immediately.
Watch the process for my classic Roast Chicken recipe:
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