Jamie Oliver’s Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary

Over at Zoe’s Bake for Happy Kids Cook Like A Star blog hop event, Jamie Oliver is the star of the month. I am a big fan of Jamie Oliver because he is really a chef with a heart – through his Food Revolution programme, he works hard at teaching people how to eat well in order to stay healthy. Looking through his website, you will be spoilt for choice on which to pick – there are so many great recipes to choose from.

I recall that one of his signature dish is the roast chicken with lemon and rosemary. I love roast chicken, so this is the first recipe that I picked.  I used to simply dump the chicken and potatoes into oven to bake after a basic marinade. But following the  steps in his recipe really made the chicken more tender with a lovely, browned crispy skin and a hint of lemon and rosemary. Even the potatoes were beautifully roasted. I have certainly learned a new skill in roasting chicken and potatoes and I can’t wait to try more of Jamie Oliver’s recipes.

Jamie Oliver’s roast chicken and lemon with rosemary (for 6)

Ingredients

• 1  chicken (about 1.3 kg – I use Sakuara chicken)
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1.5 kg of potatoes, peeled
• 1 large lemon
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
• olive oil
• A handful of fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked

Method

• Rub the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and  ground black pepper. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the chicken and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to start cooking it for lunch or dinner. By doing this, you’ll make the meat really tasty when cooked.
• Preheat your oven to 190ºC. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into golf-ball-sized pieces, put them into the water with the whole lemon and the garlic cloves, and cook for 12 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry (place in a sieve to stand) for 1 minute (this will give you crispier potatoes), then remove the lemon and garlic.

• Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot so their outsides get chuffed up and fluffy – this will make them lovely and crispy when they roast.While the lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times. Take the chicken out of the fridge, pat it with kitchen paper and rub it all over with olive oil. Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon and the rosemary into the cavity, then put the chicken into a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes.
• Remove the chicken to a plate. Some lovely fat should have cooked out of it into the roasting tray, so toss the potatoes into this with the rosemary leaves. Shake the tray around, then make a gap in the centre of the potatoes and put the chicken back in.
• Cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are nice and golden. (You can tell the chicken is cooked when the thigh meat pulls easily away from the bone and the juices run clear.)