Wednesday, September 25, 2013

roast chicken with carrots and corn

A roast chicken is a fantastic thing.

Why?

Well, to start with, it feeds quite a few people.

And if you do not have a houseful of pigs hungry teens like I do, there will be leftovers!

And leftovers are great stuff - they can be used as sandwich fillers, as the protein part of a salad, thrown into pastas, made into casseroles, soups... need I say more?

And then, a roast chicken impresses the hell out of anyone.


Beeeeeeeeeeeeeautiful!

And above all, you do not need to be a good cook to churn out a beautiful roast chicken. FACT.

I was inspired by Ree Drummond to make this roast chicken. Again, I changed a few things to suit our palates.

I started by slicing some onions and placing them in a 9x13-inch casserole. Onto the onions, I placed my chicken.


I chopped up some rosemary, and removed thyme leaves from the stems. They were added, together with the zest of a lemon, to butter that was softened.


And whisked to mix.


Add some salt and pepper.

And mix some more.


Then place the butter on the chicken.


And use your hands to spread the butter all over the chicken.


Including hidden spots, like under the wings and inside the cavity!

The wings were then tucked under the chicken.

And I stuffed some lemons, bay leaves and more rosemary into the cavity.


I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil onto the corn and carrots, and placed them around the chicken.


The chicken was placed in an oven, and roasted.

Until it was a beautiful shade of brown and cooked through.

Cover the chicken with aluminium foil for about 10 minutes.

Why? See here.

And carve, chop, slice the chicken whichever way you like.

And serve, hot or cold!


RECIPE
Roast Chicken with Carrots and Corn (Serves 4-6)
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, rinsed and patted dry
180g butter, softened
1 lemon
1 onion, sliced
4 sprigs rosemary
4 springs thyme
2 bay leaves
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 corn, chopped
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Zest the lemon. Strip the leaves off of one of the rosemary sprigs and chop it up finely.
3. Strip off all thyme leaves from the stems.
3. In a bowl, combine softened butter, lemon zest, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place onion on baking tray or casserole. Lay the patted-dry chicken on the foil, breast side up.
5. Use your fingers to smear the butter mixture all over the chicken, under the skin, and inside the cavity. Cut the lemon and place the two lemon halves and the three remaining rosemary leaves, plus the bay leaves into the cavity of the bird.
6. Drizzled extra virgin olive oil on vegetables (if using) and place them around the chicken.
7. Place the chicken into the oven and roast it for 1 hour, 15 minutes or until done. Skin should be deep golden brown and juices should be sizzling.
8. Carve/cut up to your heart's content and dig in!

I am submitting this recipe for Cook like a Star hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy KidsYen from Eat Your Heart Out and Mich from Piece of Cake



And sharing it with 




6 comments:

  1. Oh wow the whole chicken is slattered with butter and herbs. I can imagine how delicious and aromatic it is.

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  2. That looks super yummy..must try it out one of these days. Thanks for linking up at Dominique's Desk

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  3. Hi Diana,

    How many people did you have to feed with this chicken? You sounded like you have to cook a lot of people at home :p Your family is very lucky having you cooking all these delicious gourmet food for them.

    Zoe

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  4. The marinade u use for your chicken looks good! We love a good roast chicken too.

    ReplyDelete