A little taste of
Ideal hangover or late night out cure, a roast chicken is a regular favourite (unless you’re vegetarian!). Even my flat mate’s beautiful but extremely fussy nine-year-old daughter gobbled down all that was placed before her.
I want to share a Stephanie Alexander recipe that I have edited to suit my own tastes. On Sunday we enjoyed this dish with a Chinon – A Pinot Noir from the Loire Valley, France – an ideal lighter style red with enough acidity to cut through the scrumptious leek butter sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 x free range chook
- 1 x large lemon (or preserved lemons if you have)
- 3 x garlic cloves (crushed roughly with knife)
- 4 x leeks – chopped
- Butter
- Maldon sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- Olive oil
- Thyme – dried or fresh
Directions
- Heat oven to 220ºC.
- Cut all excess fat from around the neck area – separate the skin from the breast meat and fill with cubes of butter in each breast.
- Rub olive oil, salt, pepper and one garlic clove into the skin.
- Rub the cavity of the chicken with salt and thyme.
- Fill the cavity with 2 crushed garlic cloves and a lemon (cut off the ends, make some grooves in the skin and roll on a hard surface to release some of the juices). Wrap the legs together with some twine.
- Place in a deep tray with some extra cubes of butter and cook at 220ºC
for 20 minutes. Then turn down the heat to 190ºC.
Add sliced leeks around the base of the chook and add any extra butter as required. - The chicken is cooked when you poke it with a skewer and the juices run clear. Be careful not to overcook or burn the delicious crispy skin. (Serves 4)