The Best Roast Chicken
Let's talk about roast chicken. Simple, good old chicken. Most people can make a good chicken, but an excellent chicken is hard to come by. There is something so magical about simple ingredients that come together to create a homely and warm dish at the centre of your table.
Marcelle Harzan, best known for her roast chicken, believes the heart of cooking is all about sharing love on a plate. And nothing could be more loveable than her roast chicken recipe! It’s foolproof, and once you try it, you will never look back! Check out the link in my bio to get the full recipe, with a bit of an On the Kob touch! Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
- One 1kg/2kg chicken
- Salt
- Black pepper, ground fresh
- 2 rather small lemons
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180*C.
- Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out to it. Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels.
- Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers all over its body and into its cavity.
- Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel. Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand. Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.
- Place both lemons in the bird’s cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string. Close it well, but don’t make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string only serves to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.
- Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up. When turning it, try not to puncture the skin. If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later. Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.
- Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 200*C, and cook for an additional 20 minutes. There is no need to turn the chicken again.
- Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious. Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.
Pro Tip: If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven. If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.
