Our first ever roasted chicken was cooked in Durham. Back then, the oven was humongous; the need to roast food in it was hence compulsive and irresistible. That was how we celebrated Christmas in a snow-capped land. This has since become a lingering memory that will always bring back the sweet yearning for life abroad.
Ingredients:
- Butter: 3 tbsp
- White onion: 1, large, finely chopped
- Curly English parsley: 1 stalk, chopped
- Shitake mushroom: 7, chopped
- Raw sausage meat: 400g, skin removed
- Salt: 1 tsp
- Ground blackpepper: to taste
- Whole chicken (about 1kg): cleaned out, head and claws removed
- Lemon: 1, pricked with fork and microwaved for 40 seconds
- Fresh thyme: 1 bunch
Method:
- Heat butter in wok. Fry onions on low heat for 3 min.
- Add parsley, mushrooms and sausage meat. Stir well.
- Add salt and pepper. Stir well, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Spoon cooked mixture into the chicken cavity when cooled.
- Stuff microwaved lemon and thymes into cavity to seal up the hole.
- Tie the hind legs together with a string to secure the stuffing.
- Rub salt and remaining butter over chicken.
- Preheat oven at 210 degrees. Roast for 45 min.
- Brush some honey over chicken and baste with juice from tray.
- Reduce heat to 180 degrees. Continue roasting for another 45min.
- Remove from oven and leave to set for 15min before serving.
Tricks:
- Basting the chicken frequently during the roasting process helps to keep the skin moist and juicy.
- The microwaved lemon trick was one that I learnt from Jamie Oliver. It works great – not only did the lemon exude an irresistible fragrance, my microwave smelt fresh and clean after that too!
- Keep the ‘juice’ remaining in the tray – which are, really, just chicken fats – in a bottle for use next time. Scooping a spoonful of it to cook your rice, stew or soup would help enhance their flavours by loads!
Serving:
3 – 4 persons as side dish
