The Perfect Roast Chicken with Vegetables
There is something very homely and traditional that I love about a roast chicken dinner. The smell of roasting crispy skin, the taste of sweet roasted vegetables and the juiciness of succulent and tender chicken, yum! Roast chicken makes a great family dinner meal and also fabulous for entertaining. A roast chicken is very easy to make and requires minimal cleaning up. Simply prepare all ingredients and let your oven do the rest!
Servings 6
Ingredients
- 1 large whole Free Range Chicken approx 2kg
- 3-4 sprigs Fresh Rosemary or Thyme
- 3 Garlic Cloves, skin on, roughly crushed
- 1 Fresh Lemon
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch sea salt
- 1/4 medium Pumpkin, cut into large pieces
- 4 cups Root Vegetables of choice, cut into large pieces (such as Sweet Potato, Turnip, Parsnip, Carrot and Beetroot)
Instructions
- Pre-heat fan-forced oven to 200ºC.
- Take chicken out of fridge and allow to settle to room temperature.
- Wash chicken under cool running water; make sure to rinse out the cavity. Pat dry with paper towel. Tuck wings underneath its body.
- Place rosemary or thyme, garlic cloves, ½ lemon juiced and the whole juiced lemon half inside the cavity.
- Massage the chicken with 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt.
- Place chicken on an oven roasting tray with rack (so it is raised off the bottom of the dish). Try not to use a deep dish.
- Cover the breast area with foil. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.
- Add vegetables to a separate lightly greased baking tray and place in oven.
- After 40 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven and remove the foil from the breast.
- Re-oil the chicken with remaining olive oil and squeeze the remaining half of lemon juice over the chicken.
- Cover the legs with foil, leaving the breast exposed to brown. Bake in oven for a further 20 minutes.
- Take chicken out of oven and rest upside down (breast on the bottom) so the juices flow back into the chicken. Cover and allow to rest for 25-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile check vegetables are cooked until tender.
- When ready to serve, pour any juices that have drained out during resting back over the chicken.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Serving Suggestion:
- Serve with a side of cooked greens of choice to add another easy, nutritious element to your dinner.
- You could also roast any vegetables you like such as capsicum, zucchini or brussles sprouts.
- If you don't have fresh herbs you can also use 2 tablespoons of the dried version.
- For a quicker way to cook roast chicken, butterfly the chicken (cut through middle to open out. You can also ask your butcher to do this for you). This will increase the surface area for a faster cooking time. Roast in oven for approximately 30 minutes.
- Omit garlic cloves and use garlic infused extra virgin olive oil.
- Use Jap pumpkin instead of butternut pumpkin.