From the Kitchen: Citrus Roast Chicken and Vegetables

It has been a long while sine I have posted any recipes and since Christmas is around the corner, a festive feast is in order.  As such, allow me to introduce to you a roast dinner ala TOG style. And more specifically, roast chicken.

Turkey is a bit hard to come by generally, even more so from where I live. But you got to do what you gotta do right? And since chicken is the most accessible meat for most people, I think I will start from there as a reasonable substitute. 

Like most recipes on the TOG, it is relatively simple, but pays of great dividends. Without further ado, here we go!

Citrus Roast Chicken and Vegetables:

Meat:

4 chicken legs, left whole

Roasted vegetables:

2 carrots

1 sweet potato

2 floury potatoes (like King Edwards or Russet)

2 cloves of garlic

2 sprigs of rosemary

Flavoured butter:

150 gm butter (room temperature)

1 orange

1 lemon.

 6 cloves of garlic, crushed.

2 tablespoons of crushed black pepper.

1 tablespoon all spice

3 sprigs of rosemary

1 tablespoon of truffle oil (optional)

salt to taste.

Steps:

1. Prep your root veggies first as they take the longest to cook. As such, slice them into french fries and mix with a good amount of oil, salt, 3 cloves of garlic and some rosemary.

2. Place them in a heated and well oiled baking tray. Pop them into a preheated oven at 220 c while you prep the rest.

Veggies prepped and ready to be rocked!

Pro tip: If you do not preheat your pan, the veggies will stick on the pan like wet cement when your car passes through a construction site. Its a mess and not worth the hassle. Do this small step to save the trouble of cleaning. 

The flavour bomb 

3. Next prepare your flavoured butter. Extract the zest and juice of both the orange and lemon and place it into a mixing bowl along with everything else. Add the butter and mix vigorously until everything is incorporated. 

This is how it should look like when I mean incorporated 

Pro tip: Butter must best be in room temperature. If its out of the fridge, it will be too hard to handle and the ingredients cannot meld properly. I strongly advise from softening it by popping it into the microwave because a slight slip may cause it to liquefy. 

4. Massage the legs to loosen the fibers of the chicken and then use your hands to separate the skin from the meat. Separate but do not split it open. You would need to create a pocket.

In the process of being stuffed. 

5. Once you have said pocket, stuff it with the flavoured butter and use your hands to spread the butter evenly by massaging the chicken again. 

The end result of stuffing. You can see the yellow hues underneath the skin. 

6. If you have extra flavoured butter, rub it on top of the chicken legs. If you do not have enough, then any cooking oil will suffice. the grease will prevent the skin from burning. You can place a slice of lemon or orange on top while it cooks. It does add abit of flavour but its more for ornamental purposes. 

Ready for the oven for the second time! Notice the veggies below, as the looks semi cooked already. 

7. Once your chicken is prepped, place it on top of  your veggies that are cooking midway. Reduce the temperature to 180 c then pop it back into the oven for it to cook for another 35 minutes. 

Looking good! But of course it needs to be plated, unless you are some barbarian. But I would not judge. 

8. Once they are done, take it out to rest for about 15 minutes before serving. 

Finished product. 

This is a base recipe where you can really make it your own. If you like other flavours in your chicken, you can just substitute the flavour components in your butter and then add what ever you like. If you like onions, or parsnips, feel free to add them into the veggie component. With some thought and a little imagination, you can really customise this to your heart's desire.

Here is the roasted vegetables on full display. 

I particularly like this recipe as this provides 2 things in one go. Also its very practical, as the root vegetables protects the chicken from the pan. And the rendered fat from the chicken will drip into the vegetables, thus adding more flavour. It will also prevent the meat from sticking on it or burning at the bottom. This was a go to recipe back when I was a university student and making this brought back some nostalgic memories. But being a impoverished student, I only added garlic and dried herbs. 

Was able to source this photo when I took about 9 years ago.
Well, my understanding about food and camera skills have improved dramatically since then!

However, if you would want to cook a whole chicken you need to change the timing, with every pound of chicken have 20 minutes, with an additional 15 minutes. Example, if you have a 2 pound bird, it will be 40 minutes +15 minutes: 55 minutes. And it will be a bit trickier to fill in the butter. but it will definitely impress. 

This cooking time will of course change if you spatchcock the chicken (ie: split the chicken at the breast bone but keeping it whole. Some cook books call it the butterfly method). You do split the chicken open, then you can cook it for about 45 minutes. 

So give this recipe a go for this festive season.