Roast Chicken
There are few dishes that evoke comfort like roast chicken and mashed potatoes. Is it something about the golden skin, the succulent aroma that permeates the kitchen as it sizzles in the oven? Or the cloudlike, buttery, soft mounds of creamy spuds? My grandmother made mashed potatoes with obscene amounts of butter and crème fraîche. It was like diving into a decadent, edible, cozy blanket, the taste so good it enveloped you. I rarely make mashed potatoes now. But when I make this combination, it always puts a smile on my face and makes me think of her.
Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 6 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped and finely chopped
- 1 bunch chives, finely chopped
- 1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped
- 6 sprigs oregano, leaves stripped and finely chopped
- Zest of 2 lemons, then quarter the zested lemons and set aside
- 2 organic chickens, 3½-4 pounds each
- 2 large yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Pour 3 tablespoons olive oil into a small bowl. Add the thyme, chives, parsley, oregano and lemon zest. Combine well to form a thick herb mixture.
- Using a small spoon (which you slip under the skin of the chickens from the neck end), carefully spoon a little of the herb mixture under all of the skin, between and skin and the breast meat. Do this carefully so as not to break the skin.
- Pour a little olive oil into a large roasting pan and scatter the sliced onions in the pan. Place the chickens on top of the onions and rub the outside of the chickens with a little olive oil. Salt the inside and outside of the chickens. Place 4 lemon quarters in each chicken cavity. Add 7–8 grinds of fresh black pepper over the birds.
- Roast in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 375° and roast for a further 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes, turning the chickens once or twice so that all sides are evenly browned. When the chickens are cooked, remove them from the roasting pan and set aside to rest before carving, loosely covered with foil.
- Cut the chickens and serve on hot plates with the onions from the roasting pan, the root vegetables and mashed potatoes.
Nutrition
Pascale Beale
Chef, teacher and food writer, Pascale Beale, owner of Pascale’s Kitchen, grew up in an eccentric European family who cherish food, wine and the arts. She is the author of 10 Mediterranean-style cookbooks, including the best sellers Salade and Salade II. Her food memoir, 9’ x 12’: Adventures in a Small Kitchen, a multi-media book, is hosted on Substack. Her latest cookbook is Flavour: Savouring the Seasons.
