ROAST CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES AND POTATOES RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature.
  2. Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/gas 9.
  3. Wash and roughly chop the vegetables – there’s no need to peel them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.
  4. Pile all the veg, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with oil.
  5. Drizzle the chicken with oil and season well with sea salt and black pepper, then rub all over the bird. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
  6. Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavour). Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the bunch of herbs.
  7. Place the tray in the oven, then turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.
  8. If you’re doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking.
  9. Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them from burning.
  10. When the chicken is cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. Cover it with a layer of tin foil and a tea towel and leave aside while you make your gravy.
  11. To carve your chicken, remove any string and take off the wings (break them up and add to your gravy, along with the veg trivet, for mega flavour). Carefully cut down between the leg and the breast. Cut through the joint and pull the leg off.
  12. Repeat on the other side, then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick so you end up with four portions of dark meat. Place these on a serving platter.
  13. You should now have a clear space to carve the rest of your chicken. Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then the other.
  14. When you get down to the fussy bits, just use your fingers to pull all the meat off, and turn the chicken over to get all the tasty, juicy bits from underneath. You should be left with a stripped carcass, and a platter full of lovely meat that you can serve with your piping hot gravy and some delicious roast veg.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Preparing the Vegetables Peel the carrots and cut them crosswise into 1 1/2-inch-long pieces. Cut the thicker pieces in half lengthwise as well. Peel each onion and cut into quarters. Wash the potatoes under cold water to get rid of any dirt. Leave them whole and unpeeled. Scatter the carrots, onions, and potatoes on the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking or roasting pan. Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper over them, and lay 2 sprigs of the rosemary on top. If you are using dried rosemary, put 1 tablespoon in the palm of your hand and crumble it over the vegetables.
• Preparing the Chicken The giblets, which consist of the liver, gizzard, and heart, plus the neck, are usually in a package inside the cavity of the chicken, between the legs. Remove them and discard or refrigerate them to use later. If there is a pale-yellow chunk of fat on either side of the cavity, pull or cut it off and discard. Hold the chicken under cold running water and rinse it inside and out. Shake off excess water and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the remaining 11/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper over the outside of the chicken, rubbing them all over the skin. Set the chicken, the breast side facing up, on top of some of the vegetables, with the remaining ones surrounding the bird. Insert a dial-type (not instant-read) thermometer into the breast, taking care that the rod of the thermometer does not touch any bones.
• Roasting the Chicken Put the chicken in the center of the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer rings, remove the pan from the oven and, using a large spoon, turn over the vegetables that surround the chicken. Don't bother with the vegetables under the chicken. Return the pan to the oven and set the timer for 30 more minutes. After 30 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven to check for doneness. Insert the tip of a small paring knife into the meat of the thigh where it attaches to the body. If the juices that run out are pink, the chicken needs to continue cooking for another 10 to 15 minutes. If the juices are clear, it is done. The meat thermometer should show a temperature of 170 degrees F to 180 degrees F when the chicken is done.
• Carving the Chicken Carve the chicken according to the instructions on the preceding page. Scoop the vegetables out of the roasting pan and onto a serving platter. Remove the fat from the pan juices. Arrange the cut chicken pieces on top of vegetables, spoon some pan juices over the chicken and vegetables, scatter the 2 remaining rosemary sprigs on top and bring the dish to the table for serving.