ROAST CHICKEN WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES
This dinner is perfect for putting in the oven and just leaving it to do its thing!!!! The leftovers also make an excellent packed lunch the next day for school or work. For lunch it can be eaten hot or cold and is very tasty. You could make it into a Chicken and Roast Vegetable Salad, or mix it through some pasta and put it in a thermos for a hot lunch.
My son made a delicious Garlic and Chilli Oil using Extra Virgin Olive Oil, so I used this to cook the Vegetables in the oven. If you were using normal Olive Oil, you could add some Chilli Flakes to the vegetables to give a little kick!!!
Don’t waste those bones!!!!! Take the left over Chicken off the bones for the next day, and put the bones into a stock pot with Celery, Carrot, Onion, Garlic, Bay Leaves, Pepper Corns and simmer for as long as you can (minimum of 3 hours, but up to 24 hours for bone broth) and you will have the most delicious stock. This can be used to make Risotto or Soup the next night using up the left over Chicken. This is why it is so worth paying the extra money for an Organic Chicken as you will easily get two dinners and one lunch out of it, and not be eating anything nasty, ie antibiotics, hormones etc. We always make stock with our bones and if we don’t use it the next might, we freeze it in portions for future soups etc.
- Organic Chicken – spatchcocked for quicker cooking
- Spice of Choice for rubbing on the Chicken – I used a Middle Eastern Spice Mix
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 2 Red Onions – cut into wedges
- 10 cloves of Garlic – left whole
- 3 Courgettes – chopped
- 3 Red Peppers – chopped
- 2 Carrots – peeled and chopped
- 4 large Tomatoes – Cut into big chunks
- Blob of Olive Oil ( I used my son’s garlic and chilli oil)
- Chilli Flakes if you wish
- Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper
Pre Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Place the Chicken in a roasting tray and rub in the Lemon Juice and Spice Mix.
Place an empty roasting tray in the oven with some Olive Oil to warm up for the Vegetables. It will only take a minute.
Place the prepared Vegetables in the roasting tray and toss around with the warmed up oil.
Place both the trays with the Chicken and the Vegetables in the oven (you will need two shelves) and cook for 1 hour.
After 1/2 hour, take out the Vegetables and toss around to coat with the oil and so they brown nice and evenly.
After an hour, check the legs of the Chicken to see if the juices are clear. If so take the Chicken out of the oven and allow it to rest on a separate plate for 10 minutes. (If the juices are still pink, cook the Chicken longer until they run clear) The vegetables should be cooked also at this stage, and if so you can turn the oven off and leave them there whilst you let the Chicken rest.
While the Chicken is resting, put some water (not too much) into the roasting pan and cook on the top of the stove for a few minutes, scraping all the delicious juices off the bottom of the tray. This will give you a lovely sauce to pour over the chicken.
Put the juices into a gravy separator so the oil sits on the top and the juices settle on the bottom. Transfer to a jug for the table and serve up the Vegetables and Chicken.
Enjoy!!!
