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Roast
Dinner
(chicken)
I'm
not saying people don't know how to cook roast dinners,
but nowadays I think a bit too much fuss is put into them,
with all this basting and changing of heat. Although it
tastes great, it ruins some of the classic simplicity.
Anyway this is just the way, I like 'em.
You
need - for 4-6
1 fat chicken
smokey bacon
sage
loads of potatoes
2 onions
1/2 a head garlic
8 carrots
2 leeks
4 courgettes
flour
milk
1 lemon
stuffing packaged
oil
salt and pepper
Put
some oil in a roasting tray and heat in the oven.
220°c.
Loosen the skin on top of the breast of the chicken, by
sliding your fingers underneath. Push in the bacon and
sage. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze the juice all
over the chicken, put the halves of lemon into the
cavity. Pour some oil over the top and rub in a generous
helping of salt. Throw a few cloves of garlic into the
cavity, and whack it in the roasting tray.
Peel and chop the potatoes into egg size pieces, and put
them into a pan of water bring to the boil and
cook for around 10 mins.
Meanwhile peel and quarter the onions, peel and cut the
carrot into 3 cm pieces, and cut the courgette up into
roughly the same size bits. Put all of this into a bowl
with the remaining cloves of garlic, and tip over a
large swig of olive oil, season.
Drain the potatoes and fluff up the edges with a fork.
The chicken should have had around 20 mins cooking by now. Take
out the chicken and put all the veg around it.
Return to the oven.
Mix up the stuffing as according to the package
instructions, (you can use homemade but I rarely do).
Shape into balls, and coat in flour.
Remove the chicken and veg, clear a space and put in the
stuffing balls. Return to the oven. The chicken should
now have had 30 mins cooking time. In my experience a
large chicken usually takes between 1hr 45mins and 2hrs
to cook. But a good rule to follow
is 20 mins per pound, +20mins.
Make a basic white sauce (see
creamy mushroom sauce) slice the leeks in half lengthways, and in half again the other way. Place in an
oven proof dish and pour over the sauce. Put in the
oven.
When
the chicken is cooked remove it and set aside to rest,
remove the veg too and keep them warm. It is now time to
make the gravy.
Put the roasting tin on top of your hob over the lowest flame. With
a wooden spoon scrape the bottom of the
tin freeing up all the bits and pieces, at this stage I
like to add a bit of soy and Worcester sauce, stir in
some flour. Once the flour and liquid have amalgamated, add
some water or stock, keep stirring and it should thicken
up within a few minutes.
Serve on warm plates. Classic.
Any
leftovers use to make roast
dinner soup.
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