Gorgeous Roasted Chicken A La Jamie Oliver Recipes

WHOLE ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven and a roasting tray to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7.
• Pick and finely chop the soft herbs, halve the lemon and tear the bay leaves.
• Rub inside the chicken cavity with sea salt, then carefully grab the skin at the tip of the chicken breasts, making sure that it doesn't rip, and pull up gently. With your other hand gently separate the skin from the meat of the breast - it's normally connected by a little bit of tissuey-type stuff, and you can either leave this attached in the middle and make two little tunnels either side or you can try to cut away the middle.
• Sprinkle a little salt down the gaps that you have made, push in most of the chopped herbs and drizzle in a little oil.
• Push the lemon halves into the cavity along with the bay and rosemary sprigs, then pull the skin of the chicken breast forward so that none of the flesh is exposed, tuck the little winglets under, and tie up as firmly as possible.
• Rub a little oil all over the chicken skin, scatter over the remaining chopped herbs and season very generously with salt and black pepper. Slash each thigh about 3 or 4 times to allow the heat to penetrate directly.
• Remove the hot tray from the oven and drizzle with a little oil. Put the chicken into the tray, breast-side down and leaning to one side, then place in the oven. Roast for 5 minutes, then lean it to the other side, still breast-side down. Cook for another 5 minutes, then place the chicken on its bottom and cook for 1 further hour, or until golden and cooked through - the skin should be really crispy and the herbs will flavour the meat- this really must be the best roast chicken. Trust me - it's not fiddly, it's pukka.

ROAST CHICKEN MARGHERITA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Scrub the potatoes, chop into even-sized chunks and cook in a large pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes, or until tender. Halve the tomatoes and place in a large roasting tray. Break in the unpeeled garlic cloves. Pick a few pretty basil leaves for later, then stuff the rest of the bunch into the chicken cavity and add the chicken to the tray. Season with sea salt and black pepper, drizzle everything with 2 tablespoons each of red wine vinegar and olive oil, then toss well, rubbing all that flavour into the bird. Sit the chicken directly on the bars of the oven and put the tray of tomatoes beneath it. Roast for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and cooked through.
• Meanwhile, drain the potatoes, steam dry, mash, season and mix with the flour. As soon as cool enough to handle, divide and roll into 12 equal balls. Cut the smoked mozzarella into 12 chunks, poke one chunk into each ball, and seal. Place all the balls on an oiled 25cm x 35cm baking tray and roast at the bottom of the oven for the remaining 1 hour, or until golden. Remove the chicken to the tray of tomatoes and allow to rest, then squeeze a few garlic cloves out of their skins and mash into the tray juices. Sprinkle over the reserved basil leaves, then serve with the giant gnocchi and rocket, drizzling the garlicky juices over everything. Joy.

GORGEOUS ROASTED CHICKEN, A LA JAMIE OLIVER

Steps:

• °Boil about a dozen potatoes. I like Yukon Golds. Throw a whole lemon into the boiling water with them. Trust me. °Put your roasting pan in a pre-heated, 400° oven. °Take out a whole roasting chicken. I prefer to have the giblets removed. °Dunk ten or twelve skewers of rosemary into the boiling water for a moment. Shake off the water, then strip the skewers of the rosemary needles. Dunking them in the boiling water releases the oils in the rosemary, yielding more taste. Don't believe me (or Jamie Oliver, who taught it to me)? Try it. °With the mortar and pestle, bash up the rosemary, a whole head of garlic, the zest of two lemons, and sea salt. Grind it all up until you have a gorgeous, green-yellow paste. Add olive oil and stir it about. Coat the chicken with this mixture. Take a whiff of this. ° Settle the chicken down into the hot roasting pan. Before you put it back in the oven, retrieve the water-engorged lemon. According to Jamie Oliver, boiling the lemon like this leaves the juices simmering inside of it. Most of us put a cold lemon in the chicken, which means the juices don't start to pervade the chicken meat until the last half hour of cooking. Putting in a hot lemon means the juices release immediately, and the heat of the lemon starts to cook the chicken immediately too. So, stuff the chicken with the hot lemon, and a few more skewers of rosemary. Put this into the oven and cook for half an hour. °After half an hour, pull out the roasting pan. Take the partially cooked chicken out of the pan and put it on the plate, temporarily. Throw the boiled potatoes onto the bottom of the roasting pan. Be sure to swirl them in the juices that have already formed. Make a divot in the pile of potatoes, then put the chicken back in it. Return the pan to the oven for an additional hour. At the end of this, you should have the juiciest, easiest roast chicken you have ever made. And the potatoes will be golden brown and soft. Tuck in.