Christmas Thai Roast Chicken

Christmas Thai Roast Chicken

Lemon grass, ginger and chillies add a wonderfully intense flavor and fragrance to roast chicken in this stunningly simple recipe.

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 1 to 2 hours

Serves Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 2 sticks lemongrass
• 50 g / 1 ¾ oz ginger, peeled
• 3 spring onions
• 2 medium red chillies
• 2 medium yellow chillies
• 1 medium green chilli
• 1 tbsp ground turmeric
• 200 ml / 7 oz groundnut oil
• 1 whole chicken
  

Method

1. Set the oven to 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4.
2. Combine all of the ingredients apart from the chicken in a food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Brush the chicken generously with the spice mix.
4. Cover the chicken with foil and roast in the oven for 70 to 80 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a skewer  the cooking time will depend on the size of the chicken. Remove the foil half way through to allow the skin to crisp up.
5. Leave to rest for 15 minutes covered in foil before serving.
   

Read More

Christmas Italian roast chicken with peppers and olives

Christmas Italian roast chicken with peppers and olives

A roast chicken always is celebratory. The vibrantly colored and intensely flavored vegetables that are cooked alongside here seem only to underline this, offering their own brightness and brie, sunny in taste as well as mood.

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 1 to 2 hours

Serves Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 x 1.5 kg/3 lb 5 oz chicken (preferably organic)
• 1 UN-waxed lemon, cut in half
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 3 leeks, washed and trimmed
• 2 red peppers
• 1 orange pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 100g/3½oz pitted dry-packed black olives
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to serve
  

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/Gas 6. Un-truss the chicken, sit it in a roasting tin and put the lemon halves and two of the rosemary sprigs into the chicken’s cavity.
2. Wash and trim the leeks, cut each into three logs, then slice length ways and add to the tin. Now remove the core and seeds of the peppers and slice them into strips, following their natural curves and ridges, and add these to the tin.
3. Tumble in the olives, and now pour the olive oil, mostly over the vegetables but a little over the chicken, too. Add the remaining rosemary sprigs to the vegetables, along with some sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Using a couple of spoons or spatulas, gently toss the vegetables about to help coat them with the oil and make sure everything’s well mixed up.
4. Sprinkle some sea salt flakes over the chicken and put it in the oven for about 1-1¼ hours, by which time the chicken should be cooked through, and its juices running clear when you cut into the flesh with a small sharp knife at the thickest part of the thigh joint. The vegetables should be tender by now, too, and some of the leeks will be a scorched light-brown in parts.
5. Remove the chicken to a carving board and, while it rests (for about 10 minutes) pop the pan of veg back in the oven, switching the oven off as you do so.
6. Cut the chicken up chunkiness, transferring the pieces to a large warmed platter. Now take the pan back out of the oven and, with a slotted spoon or spatula, remove the vegetables to the large platter and when all is arranged to your aesthetic delight, pour over it all the bronze, highly-flavoured juices that have collected in the pan.
   

Read More

Christmas Perfect roast chicken

Christmas Perfect roast chicken

A super-moist, tender and well-flavored roast chicken. Chicken is rubbed with Dijon mustard and roasted in a cast-iron frying pan with white wine. Serve as an alternative roast for Sunday lunch or Christmas dinner.

Ingredients 
Serves: 4 - 6

• 125 ml dry white wine
• 2 lemons, cut in half
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 1 (1.8 kg) whole chicken
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cold butter
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste.
• 

• Method
  Prep:15min  ›  Cook:1hr15min  ›  Extra time:15min resting  ›  Ready in:1hr45min 

  1. Preheat an oven to 220 C / Gas 7. Pour the wine into a 25cm or similar sized cast-iron frying pan; set aside.
  2. Place the lemon halves and garlic cloves into the cavity of the chicken. Slide half of the butter underneath the skin of each breast.
  3. Rub the chicken all over with Dijon mustard, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Place into the cast-iron frying pan.
  4. Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 180 C / Gas 4 and continue baking until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 1 hour more. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 82 degrees C.
  5. Remove the chicken from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of foil and allow to rest in a warm area for 15 minutes before slicing.
     

Read More

Christmas Speedy roast chicken

Christmas Speedy roast chicken

A well-seasoned chicken is cooked at a high heat for a speedy roast that leaves the bird moist and flavorful.

Prep: 15 min  ›  Cook:1 hr  ›  Ready in:1 hr 15 min Serves: 8 

Ingredients 

1 whole chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 230 C / Gas 8.
Put chicken into a small roasting tin. Rub with olive oil. Mix the spices together and rub into the chicken.

Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 200 C / Gas mark 6 and continue roasting 40 minutes, to a minimum internal temperature of 85 C. Remove from oven and let sit 10 to 15 minutes, and serve.
 2nd Method  #Christmas Lover

Ingredients
1 x 1.6 kg higher-welfare chicken
2 medium onions
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 bulb of garlic
olive oil
1 lemon

1 bunch of mixed fresh herbs , such as, thyme, rosemary, bay
Method
Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/gas 9.
Wash and roughly chop the vegetables – there’s no need to peel them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.
Pile all the veg, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with oil.
Drizzle the chicken with oil and season well with sea salt and black pepper, then rub all over the bird. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavour). Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the bunch of herbs.
Place the tray in the oven, then turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.
If you’re doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking.
Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them from burning.
When the chicken is cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. Cover it with a layer of tin foil and a tea towel and leave aside while you make your gravy.
To carve your chicken, remove any string and take off the wings (break them up and add to your gravy, along with the veg trivet, for mega flavour). Carefully cut down between the leg and the breast. Cut through the joint and pull the leg off.
Repeat on the other side, then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick so you end up with four portions of dark meat. Place these on a serving platter.
You should now have a clear space to carve the rest of your chicken. Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then the other.

When you get down to the fussy bits, just use your fingers to pull all the meat off, and turn the chicken over to get all the tasty, juicy bits from underneath. You should be left with a stripped carcass, and a platter full of lovely meat that you can serve with your piping hot gravy and some delicious roast veg

Read More