Easy Roast Chicken Recipe

ngredients:

1 good quality whole chicken
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large lemon
5 cloves garlic
Fresh thyme
Olive oil
Fresh rosemary (leaves only)

Potatoes (for roasting)

Directions:

Step 1 - Rinse the chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub the chicken inside and out with sea salt and black pepper. If possible do this a few hours before cooking. Cover chicken and place back in refrigerator until time to cook. This will make the meat really tasty.

Step 2 - Before cooking chicken, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Peel and cut potatoes into golf size pieces and put them in boiling water along with the whole lemon and whole garlic cloves. Boil potatoes for 12 minutes (no longer). Drain well. Remove lemon and garlic and set aside. Toss the potatoes in the colander a few times to give them a rough outer edge. This will make crispier potatoes. Set aside.

Step 3 - Take the chicken and gently pull breast skin back and pour a little olive oil between skin and breast meat. Rub remainder of chicken inside and out with olive oil. Take the whole lemon and carefully pierce a few times. Place the whole pierced lemon, garlic cloves and few sprigs of fresh thyme into the cavity of the chicken. Take another few sprigs of thyme and place them between the skin and breast meat. Place chicken on roasting tray and cook at 350F for about 45 minutes. Remove chicken to plate.

Step 4 -Take the potatoes and rosemary leaves and toss them around in the tray with the chicken fat drippings. Sprinkle with salt. Make a gap in center of potatoes and place chicken back in tray. Cook for a further 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and potatoes are golden.

Step 5 - Take chicken out of oven and remove lemon, thyme and garlic from cavity and discard. Carve roast chicken and serve with roasted potatoes and fresh garden salad.

Extra Tip:

If you're a garlic lover and the kids don't mind, vary this recipe by mashing up the garlic once the chicken and potatoes have finished cooking and rub all over cooked chicken.

For an even juicier roast chicken recipe try placing about 6 bacon strips over chicken for the last 45 minutes. Place the bacon on the chicken at the same time you add the potatoes to the tray.

As we have this as a light dinner with salad, we don't bother with gravy. The chicken is moist enough.

However, if you'd like gravy simply place fat drippings in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Place one tablespoon of flour in 1/2 cup cold water and stir.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the fat drippings stirring often to avoid lumping. Stir until gravy thickens. It may be necessary to add a little butter if you don't have enough fat drippings.