Because sometimes only crispy roast chicken will cut it!
Whilst I’m a big advocate of vegetables and I use them a lot in my recipes, I also believe good quality meat and fish can form part of a healthy, balanced diet. For me, quality is key. If you can, try to source organic or grass fed meat. It’s better to eat it less often and buy quality than everyday and it be pumped full of hormones.
If you live in South London, I highly recommend Moen and Sons, the best butchers I know hands down. I always get my chicken bones from there too to make healing broth as I know it comes from local, organic and free range farms. Try your local butchers or look online at places like The Well Hung Meat Company and Abel and Cole. They all do excellent quality meat.
The secret to the perfect crispy roast chicken
So, you want to know the secret to the perfect succulent roast chicken with crispy skin? Well firstly, it’s in the seasoning but my number 1 top tip to crispy chicken perfection is… put a hat on it! So why would you want to put a hat on a chicken? I’m not talking a wooly hat to keep it warm here peeps, it’s not going to catch a chill roasting in the oven for 1.5 hours is it?! It’s to steam the chicken and make it tender and moist. Then half an hour before it’s ready you simply remove the hat and tin foil and crisp to perfection.
Ready for my ultimate crispy roast chicken recipe? You’ll never look back!
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 tablespoon of marjoram
- 8 – 10 fresh sage leaves (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil or 1 teaspoon of raw butter
- 4 small – medium red onions (leave half an onion for stuffing)
- 4 large carrots
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C (fan assisted.)
Peel the carrots and onions. Chop 3 and half red onions into wedges and the carrots into thick chunks.
Finely dice the remaining half a red onion. Mix with the marjoram, sage and thyme and 1 tablespoon of olive oil or 1 teaspoon of raw butter, pinch of salt and pepper and stuff inside the caracas.
Season the outside of the bird with salt and pepper and rub with a tablespoon more of olive oil. You can also put some of the herby onion mix under the skin if you like. Place in a backing tray on a wire rack. (There needs to be space underneath the chicken for the juices.)
Take a sheet of baking/ parchment paper and ‘put a hat’ on the chicken. To do this, simply place the sheet over the chicken and twist the edges so it acts as a sort of seal over the top of the chicken. Scatter the carrots and onion around the chicken. Fill the base with about 1 – 2cm of water and cover the whole thing in tin foil so the tray is sealed.
Read the cooking time on the chicken but today i used a medium sized chicken for and roasted for 1 hr with the hat and tin foil on then removed both, drained most of the juices but not all (keep this to pour back over the chicken before serving) and put back in the oven for a further 20 minutes until crispy. You want to cook the chicken without the hat for about 20 minutes so alter your times accordingly.
To check it’s cooked, push a skewer through the thickest part of the leg. The juices will run clear when cooked. Remove from the oven. Rest a sheet of tin foil over the top and allow to stand for about 10 minutes.
Once rested, using two forks, pull the chicken off the bone and shred into chunky pieces. Warm through the juice you put to one side earlier. Serve your crispy roast chicken with the roasted carrots, onions and that lovely tasty juice. A family favourite you’ll go to time and time again.
