Chicken in Milk

Since the time when we had Cook Like A Star with Jamie Oliver, this recipe had been tried by many others who gave it excellent reviews. 

I finally got down to making it after I got some sage from the supermarket. It seems a little odd to bake chicken in milk but somehow the combination of ingredients makes the entire dish work perfectly. Sage and cinnamon adds a distinctive flavour to the rich creamy milk gravy infused with zesty lemon aromas.  

The chicken was pan fried and then baked to a crisp perfection. The meat was tender and flavourful soaked in the gravy. Writing about it makes me want to do this easy peasy one-dish again. 

Chicken in Milk (Serves 4)
Jamie Oliver's recipe

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg higher-welfare chicken (I used 2 chicken halves)
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• ½ stick cinnamon
• 1 good handful fresh sage, leaves picked
• zest of 2 lemons
• 10 cloves garlic, skin left on
• 565 ml milk

 Method

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5, and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over, and fry it in a little olive oil, turning the chicken to get an even colour all over, until golden. Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the oil left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan which will give you a lovely caramel flavour later on.
• Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1½ hours. Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce which is absolutely fantastic.
• To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide it onto your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds. Serve with wilted spinach or greens and some mashed potato.

This is for Cook Like A Star hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake.