I had always wanted to do a whole roast chicken in my home oven. I had eaten the roast chicken mainly in restaurants or sandwiched between two slices of a deli bread. The beauty of whole roasted chicken tied together with a kitchen string, stuffed with aromatic herbs and fragrant things, smothered with butter is just incomparable. I mean, look at this little chicken and you’d realize, what am I trying to depict here. And not to forget about the flavors, which are so amazingly and equally beautiful too. Yet, very simple to create with very little time or attention needing. I am not sure, what took me so long to roast a chicken at home. I couldn’t believe, it would be that easy, almost like a breeze. All I did was to follow a video on youtube to learn tying a whole chicken with kitchen string, then rubbed the chicken with some olive oil, sprinkled some salt and pepper and voila! The infused flavor of roasted garlic was just enough to add the flavor to this perfectly roasted chicken and it’s lovely charred crackling skin. It would be nicer, if you can get your hands onto chicken with skin on. The skin is what creates the difference and adds to the lovely flavors. I served this with an aromatic nutty herb sauce, which was even more simpler to whiz in a couple of minutes. I thought it was a perfect chicken recipe to be tried on a Sunday afternoon. But believe me, it wouldn’t make you toiled hard in the kitchen if you want to get your hands dirty with this on a weekday as well.
- 1 kg whole chicken, washed and patted dry
- 3 heads garlic, cloves separated
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- sea salt and cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 thick slice bread, chopped
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- ¾ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
- ¾ cup basil leaves
- ¾ cup chicken stock
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Place the garlic on a baking tray, drizzle with half the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Tie and secure the chicken legs with kitchen string. Place the chicken on top of the garlic and rub with the remaining oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour or until the skin is golden and the chicken is cooked through.
- To make the herb sauce, heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add the garlic, onion, bread and pine nuts and cook for 5 minutes or until golden. Place in the bowl of a food processor with the basil, parsley, chicken stock and pepper and pulse until roughly chopped. Return to the pan and heat over medium heat for 2–3 minutes or until warm.
- Serve chicken with the herb sauce.
It has come out perfectly!!
This is what am going to make next. You’ve got me sold on the idea! ♥