A simple, relaxed Sunday lunch of roast chicken and a salad with mixed sprouts. There’s no reason a Sunday meal needs to be an ordeal.
Ok, so here’s the thing…. I forget about roast chicken. There are so many other things to eat and the humble roast chook slips out of my mind. But then, every now and then I get a craving and my grandmas classic roast chicken rises up from the vaults of my nostalgic mind and there it is.
THE NON RECIPE, RECIPE FOR ROAST CHOOK – MY GRANS STYLE
A recipe is not needed, it’s too simple for that, but what I will say, is buy a good quality organic chook , wash it in hot water, then soak it in the sink for an hour in more hot water, and then marinate.
I crush 6-7 cloves of garlic with the back of my fork in 3-4 tea spoons of Malden sea salt and tons of fine black pepper. I mash this paste all over the unassuming chook, inside and out, place in a pot and marinate for as long as I have. Overnight makes it really really tasty.
An average-size chicken weighs about 1.5kg and will feed 4. Heat the oven to 200 C. The roasting formula is 20 minutes per 450g, plus an extra 20 minutes, so it’ll take around 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1½ hours to cook your chook perfectly.
There are many methods of bird-roasting but as a standard chicken doesn’t take very long to cook, there’s any need to get too complicated. I roast with breast-down for the first hour, so the moisture runs down into the flesh rather than out into the pot, then turn it over for the last 30 minutes to allow the skin to crisp and colour. If you prefer, cook yours right-side up for the duration of the cooking time – either way it’s not usually necessary to cover it.
Make sure the chicken is cooked through by either piercing the thigh with a skewer, or checking the juices that run out onto the resting plate. In both cases you need to make sure there’s no pinkness remaining.I let it rest, then cut into quarters and devour shamelessly!
