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Roast Chicken

Steven Thomas

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for Roast Chicken

  • 1 x 1.5 kg chicken
  • Stuffing of choice
  • Basting sauce of choice

Basting Sauce 1 - Salt and Pepper

  • Sea Salt and Pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Olive

Basting Sauce 2 - Soya Sauce

  • 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Basting Sauce 3 - Wine

  • 25 grams oil or melted butter
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients for Traditional Herb Stuffing

  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 1 stalk celery very finely chopped
  • [Optional] 1-2 grated lemon rind
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or other herbs
  • 1 egg white or yolk but not both
  • 4 slices of stale bread crumbled (or replace bread with rice or pasta; or replace 1/2 bread with chopped mushrooms)

Ingredients for Lemon Stuffing

  • 1 lemon with eight deep cuts (but not slicing right through)
  • 3 cloves garlic flattened but unpeeled
  • [Optional] 2 or 3 sprigs of fresh tarragon thyme or oregano

Extra ingredients for Light Chicken Gravy

  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock you can boil the giblets in 3 cups of water to make the stock
  • [Optional] 2 tablespoons sherry
  • S+P

Instructions
 

Instructions for Roast Chicken

  • Preheat oven to 180ºC or 200ºC (see aside on cooking times) with the roasting tray already inside the oven
  • Remove chicken from fridge
  • Remove giblets from body cavity (if any)
  • Wash and dry chicken inside and out
  • Leave chicken to reach room temperature
  • Prepare stuffing of choice
  • Mix together ingredients of your basting sauce of choice
  • Stuff chicken with stuffing of choice
  • Place chicken in roasting tray so the breast is up
  • Rub basting sauce of choice all over the chicken
  • Cook, basting during cooking, until done (you can tell if the bird is cooked by piercing the inner thigh with a skewer. Pink juices means it needs longer; clear juices means it is cooked.)
  • Leave the cooked chicken in a warm place for 5-1 min before carving to allow the meat to 'set'

Instructions for Traditional Herb Stuffing

  • Cook onion and celery in a covered pan for 3-5 min (stop before they brown)
  • Remove from heat
  • Add remaining ingredients to onion mix
  • Mix well

Instructions for Lemon Stuffing

  • Place in the chicken's cavity

Instructions for Light Chicken Gravy

  • Transfer chicken and any vegetables to a serving dish
  • Drain off fat, leaving pan drippings and about 1 tablespoon of fat.
  • Shift flour over the pan
  • Mix and heat until bubbles and browns
  • Mix in the stock and sherry
  • Simmer for 5 min
  • Season
  • Strain the gravy through a sieve
  • Pour into a serving jug

Notes

You can use Traditional Herb Stuffing but I often replace this with a sliced lemon instead. Or don't stuff at all. If you do add a stuffing then you'll have to cook for longer (see aside on cooking times).
Personally I like the flavour of the lemon and the simplicity of the idea. A good combination with a wine basting sauce.
In New Zealand and the UK Roast Chicken is traditionally served with a thin gravy made from the roasting dripping.