Roast Chicken
Yeah, another weekend has gone by! Perhaps too quickly! I did nothing (cooking and eating not count) except battling on Mario Kart Wii in becoming the Kart Champion! I started off as a very bad Kart driver but managed to raise my trophy in the end (well, at the moment for the 50cc only *LOL*).
It’s addictive….too addictive that you always want to press the NEXT GAME button to start a new game. What is so cool about this game on Wii console is that you could play with the people around the world included your friends!
Even though I spent most of my time in front of the TV and holding tight on the Wii Wheel remote, I did spend some time in the kitchen to prepare a wholesome Sunday Lunch.
Strange but it’s true that I do crave for roast chicken from time to time. I am sure you all know that it is important to have a good quality of chicken in order to make a great roast. Free range, preferably. Free range chickens tend to be slightly expensive, thus, not popular. As consumers would rather opt for 2 for £5 chickens. From this kind of promotional price, you would probably have guessed that they are conventional intensively raised chickens or also called industrial chickens.
I don’t think that supermarkets (like Tesco and Sainsbury’s) stock enough free range/ pasture-based chickens. Once, I wanted to get a whole free range chicken but I couldn’t find even one. Anyway, I was surprised to see lots of free range chickens at Tesco last weekend. However, when I looked at the labels, they are French free range chickens (Label Rouge to be precise)! Wow, could it probably be that free range chickens are so popular nowadays that they have to be imported? I doubt.
It doesn’t bother me much really. Instead, I love this. I like them stocking more quality products from France. I am praying hard that one day they will have 2 big full selves of various flavours of yoghurt.
Right, to get to the point – not only I had a fantastic Wii weekend but had a wonderful Sunday lunch at home. I bought the Label Rouge free range chicken and made the simplest and yummiest roast ever! Ah, never forget to have some vegetables and new potatoes with it. Goes well chips too!
Yum! Please feel free to share your version of roast chicken with me 🙂
My verdict on free range chicken… for this occasion, it’s based on Label Rouge (Red Label) free range chicken from France.
Less fat. Distinctive taste. More juicy. Thin and translucent skin. Firm flesh yet not tough.
Overall rating for the quality: 9/10
Roast Chicken
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cook Time:
30 minutes
Yield:
4 servings
Ingredients:
For the Roast Chicken:
200g new potatoes
1 medium free range chicken
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, halved
1 bulb of garlic, halved
4 sprigs lemon thyme
4 carrots
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
salt and pepper
Method:
1. Preheat the oven at 200 ºC. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for 6-7 minutes. Drain and set aside. Season with salt and pepper, then rub with the olive oil.
2. Place the chicken on the baking tray. Then, put the onion, garlic and lemon thyme in the cavity of the chicken. Arrange new potatoes and carrots around the chicken.
3. Roast the chicken according to the duration specified on the packaging. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of water on the chicken after 45 minutes of roasting to maintain the moisture.
4. During the last 30 minutes of roasting, take the chicken out and brush maple syrup/clear honey. This will give the chicken a nice glaze and taste. Return to the oven and continue to cook until there is juice runs clear when insert a knife to the thickest part of the meat. The new potatoes and carrots should be cooked until softened.
