Roast Chicken without the Drama (Roast Chicken with Lemon, Garlic, Rosemary and Thyme)

Roast Chicken without the Drama (Roast Chicken with Lemon, Garlic, Rosemary and Thyme)

I had my first couple of recipe requests, which is a real milestone for a new food blogger. One of them was for low fat coleslaw. Unfortunately I don’t tend to eat much coleslaw as I have a degree of lactose intolerance. Being lactose sensitive is the bane of my life, so much so that I think it’s an issue that deserves a whole blog post to itself so I will save that for another time. So although I don’t have one right now, Chrissy, I promise I will work on it.

The second request was a lot easier. Priya from America requested a ‘good roast chicken recipe’. Now, roast chicken isn’t something I tend to make much as I always assume it has to be a whole chicken, take a whole day and be whole big drama. But actually I love roast chicken so I wanted to find a way it didn’t have to be quite so formal. And by Jove, I think I’ve found it. This roast chicken recipe ticks all the boxes, it tastes great, is easy to make, is a one-pot dish (unless you count the vegetables) and although it takes an hour to cook you don’t have to watch over it, which means it frees you up to have a cup of coffee and read the paper (or in my case write my next blog post).

Priya, I hope it’s what you’re looking for. Do try it out and let me know what you think (that goes for all of you). N loved it so it’s definitely one I’ll be making again and again.

Roast Chicken with Lemon, Garlic, Rosemary and Thyme

(serves 2| total prep and cooking time 1 hour 15 mins)

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs – skin on

6 garlic cloves – peeled but kept whole

Approximately 12-14 new potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice and zest of ½ of an unwaxed lemon

3-4 sprigs of rosemary – leaves removed

3-4 sprigs of scented thyme – leaves removed

Black pepper

½ chicken stock cube dissolved in 125ml boiling water

Method

·         Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan

·         Trim the excess skin off the chicken thighs. Make sure you keep enough on so the chicken is protected from the heat and doesn’t dry out

·         Make the marinade – mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, black pepper, rosemary and thyme. NOTE: when you remove the leaves from the herb sprigs it’s ok if the small fine branches are left on, it’s the big ones you don’t want

·         Place the chicken thighs in an oven proof dish. Make sure the dish has enough space for you to add the potatoes

·         Prick the skin of the chicken with a knife and pour the marinade over each of the thighs equally. Try to rub it in to the skin a little if you can.

·         Wash the new potatoes and scatter around the chicken. It’s worth drizzling the potatoes in a little oil so they don’t dry out when cooking

·         Nestle in the cloves of garlic amongst the chicken and potatoes

·         Pour the chicken stock into the oven tray and place it in the oven for a total of 60 minutes

·         Half way through increase the oven temperature to approximately 200-210 degrees fan to make sure the skin becomes crispy

·         Serve with steamed vegetables or other seasonal vegetables

TIP: For a deeper flavour you can marinate the chicken thighs in the lemon garlic and herb marinade overnight in the fridge if you like.