Roast Chicken
From the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book. Serve with roast potatoes and broccoli
Ingredients
- 1 chicken
- 1 lemon
- thyme
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 chicken stockpot, made to 125ml with water
- 125ml white wine
- Gravy
- 1 tbsp flour
Method
Prepare the chicken. Cut away any loose fatty bits. Put in an oven tray and squeeze over half the lemon. Stuff with thyme and the other half of lemon. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Cook on 160°C for for 1 hour 15 min. After the first 20 min add the wine/stock. You need 250ml total liquid, so if you have no wine just use more stock. Baste a couple of times while cooking.
Towards the end of the cook, cut the skin between the leg and the body and baste there. This part of the chicken takes the longest to cook. The chicken is cooked when you prod with a fork and the juices run clear. If you pick the chicken up and the legs fall off - it's definitely done.
Remove chicken to carving plate, and cover with foil and tea towels and let rest for 20 min.
Make the gravy. Tip the wine/stock/juices mix into a small pan and whisk in 1 tbsp flour. It mixes better if you whisk before you put the pan on heat. Set on a medium heat and cook until thickened. Then turn down to low and keep warm until everything else is ready. Add and juices from the rested chicken when you carve it.
