A Delicious Chicken Roast

Ok, I know everyone has their own roast method. I haven't braved it since I moved out of home, but have just sucessfully roasted up a small chicken in my new kitchen. Hooray. And here's how I did it.

My chicken was only small (3lb) and I don't have a proper roasting tray, so, I cut 3 small lemons in half and put them in the bottom of a deep roasting tray. In here too I put three cloves of garlic, towards the edge.

With the chicken, I rubbed butter under the skin, salt and peppered it, and stuffed it (with box stuffing - yes Paxo is the best!). I tied up the legs making sure the skin was tight over the stuffing to keep it safe inside the chicken. The chicken sat on the lemons and I arranged par-boiled potatoes and parsnips around it (and drizzled a little olive oil on them).

The chicken went into a hot (200 degree c) oven for 20-30 mins until the skin was golden brown. Then turn the oven down (to 170ish) and cook for another hour. If the skin is getting too brown cover the top of the chicken with foil. Halfway through coooking you can take the chicken out and look around the bottom of the legs and breasts to see pckets of fat - I poke a hole in these and let the juices run into the dish. You should be able to tell when the chicken is done - but just to be sure - poke deep into the breast then press the flat of the knife near the hole. If juices run out they should be clear - if they look even a little bit pink put it back in the oven.

When the chicken's just about done it's gravy-time! I took the chicken out of the oven and rested it on a plate (discard the lemons which should have gone soft and caramelised). I rolled the potatoes and parsnips in the fat and lifted them out onto a flat baking tray - and put them back into the top of the oven - just to get that bit more crispy. The juices from the chicken went into a small saucepan with lots of flour to soak up the fat. (You may find you have far too much of this mix - if so, put half aside and you can use it for more gravy to go with leftovers tomorrow!)

Cook the roux-gravy mix out until it turns a lighter colour, and then slowly add liquid - use the water you've been boiling veg in if you can (I did green beans so used the water from those). So, add the liquid slowly, stirring all the time until you have a thick gravy consistency. Season if you need to and it's ready to go!

And that's that. Get the roasties from the oven and carve the chuck! This was really tasty, the lemon seemed to get into everything - making a really tangy crust on some of the potatoes and parsnips and making the gravy lovely and fruity. Perfect for a Sunday.