BASTING A CHICKEN RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5, and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken.
  2. Season the chicken generously with sea salt and black pepper, and fry it in the butter and a little oil, turning regularly to get an even colour all over.
  3. Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the oil and butter left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan which will give you a lovely caramelly flavour later on.
  4. Put the chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients (speed-peel the lemon zest and leave the garlic cloves unpeeled), and cook in the preheated oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, basting with the cooking juice when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce which is absolutely fantastic.
  5. To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide between plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds. Delicious served with wilted spinach or greens and some mashed potato.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
  2. Quarter the tomatoes and place them in a large baking dish or roasting tray (roughly 25cm x 30cm). Peel the onions and cut into large wedges, then deseed and roughly chop the peppers. Add all these to the tray along with the chicken thighs.
  3. Squash the unpeeled garlic cloves with the back of your knife and add to the tray, then pick over the thyme leaves and sprinkle over the paprika.
  4. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, the balsamic and a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Toss everything together really well to coat, then spread across the tray, making sure the chicken isn’t covered by the vegetables.
  5. Roast for around 1 hour, or until the chicken is golden and cooked through, turning and basting it a couple of times during cooking with the juices from the tray.
  6. Serve the traybake with a lovely green salad on the side. You could also buddy it up with a little rice, polenta or a loaf of crusty bread to mop up the juices.