17 October 2011

Secret Recipe Club: Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Chicken



It's that time of the month again: Secret Recipe Club time! The Secret Recipe Club is the brain child of Amanda of Amanda's Cookin. It's become so popular that it's been split into groups and I am a member of group B, lead by the corageous Tina of Mom's Crazy Cooking! Each month, every particpant is assigned a blog to cook from. You can see my previous posts of Red, White, andBlueberry Cheesecake Bars, Green Tomato Gazpacho, and Baby Bok Choywith Shitake Mushrooms. Interested in joining in the fun? Fill out the form here to join!

This month I was assigned Danielle's blog: Mostly Food and Crafts. I was immediately drawn to this blog because of how different and yet similar it is to my own. Danielle has a series on Fridays (What I Bookmarked this Week) where she posts links to recipes and crafts from other sites (very different from me), but she also has a series called “Your recipe-my kitchen,” which is similar to my Double Take series. So much fun! I can't wait to make more recipes from this site. 


I spent time pouring through Danielle's blog, but didn't have too terribly far to look. Everyone knows I love roasted chicken, and I found three roasted chicken recipes quite easily. Since I was heading back to my parents' place to pick up my car, I decided to cook dinner for them and let them pick between Roast Chicken Thighs with Fennel, Garlic Roast Chicken, and Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Chicken. They opted for Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Chicken. Momma was kind enough to pick up all of the ingredients ahead of time, so throwing this meal together was a cinch. All photos are courtesy of Momma.

Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Chicken
serves 4

Ingredients:
1 four pound chicken
salt and fresh ground pepper (I used less than 2 tsp of salt total)
3 small handfuls of fresh herbs (basil, parsley, oregano) finely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lemon, halved
4 bay leaves, torn
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 onions, diced
8 new potatoes, chunked

Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven and the roasting tray to 425 ºF. Wash chicken inside and out and pat dry. Rub the cavity with salt. Carefully separate the skin from the breast meat and sprinkle with salt, add the fresh herbs and drizzle in a bit of olive oil. 
  2. Stuff the bird with the lemon, bay, and rosemary. Pull the skin forward making sure the flesh isn't exposed.
  3. Slash each thigh 3-4 times and rub some fresh herbs into the skin. Now over the entire chicken, drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle with salt. 
  4. Remove your hot tray from oven, drizzle a bit of olive oil, lay chicken breast side down and cook for 10 minutes. 
  5. Pull chicken out of the pan. Line pan with diced onions and chunked potatoes. Flip the chicken and cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until chicken has reached 165 ºF. Tent with foil and let rest 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!



THOUGHTS:
It was roast chicken. Of course it was fabulous! It was my first time confidently cooking with lemon, and I was pleased with the results. However, I might be okay with spatchcocking the chicken in the future to avoid the pains of flipping the chicken. I mean, there is nothing simple about the act of flipping a hot chicken in a hot pan. Really. Save yourself the trouble. Just spatchcock it and avoid the whole flipping process. And you get to cook it for a shorter amount of time. It's a win-win.

If you like carrots, definitely add carrots to the potatoes and onions. You won't be disappointed.

VERDICT:
It's-easy-and-tasty: 1 vote!
The-amount-of-herbs-is-perfect: 1 vote!
I'll-spatchcock-in-the-future-but-this-is-really-good: 1 vote!

Many thanks to Momma and Dr. Pops for letting me take over their kitchen for an evening!


22 comments:

  1. Yay - you got my blog! I'm glad you liked it, I agree with you the flipping thing was a major pain.

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  2. I've been meaning to try this recipe for a long time. It looks fantastic!

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  3. I looove a golden, crispy roasted chicken -- and your idea to spatchcock it is a good one...way easier (and fun to say too!) theresa

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  4. I'm always looking for a good roast chicken recipe. Nice pick for SRC!

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  5. This looks like a great Roast Chicken, I will have to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing and it is fun cooking with you in the SRC!
    Miz Helen
    Southwest Chicken and Potato Soup

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  6. I love roast chicken as well and it's always nice to have a new recipe to try.

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  7. Oooooooooh, I LOVE roast chicken! This one looks great, LOVE all the fresh herbs, yum! :)

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  8. That is one beautiful bird! What a flavorful treatment. Yum.

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  9. I love roast chicken too and this look like a great version. I'm glad I've found another take on this - perfect for the upcoming holiday season!

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  10. I just bought one of these chickens TODAY, yes TODAY and now I know what I am doing with it! I wonder if I could cook it in the crock-pot?

    Thanks for being a part of GROUP B: come by and see my frozen breakfast burritos from today's SRC Post.

    http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2011/10/frozen-breakfast-burritos-secret-recipe.html

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  11. I have done my chickens this way for years and never bother to flip them - too much like hard work as you say :)

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  12. I made this Jamie Oliver Chicken recipe years ago and had forgotten about it! Must add it to my dinner "to do" list for sure!

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  13. I love a good roasted chicken. This is making my mouth water.

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  14. I've never heard that term "spatchcock" before. I learned something new today!

    Amy @ A Little Nosh

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  15. Gorgeous and I never can resist a beautiful roasted chicken.

    If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my group "A" SRC recipe this month: Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

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  16. Yum! Looks great! Fun to participate in SRC with you!

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  17. I love Jamie Oliver! I'll definitely be giving this recipe a try.

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  18. Roasting chickens scares me! (Go figure?) I don't know why, but I am tempted to try it from this post. Great pics and great SRC post.

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  19. I'm reading blogs while hungry and your roasted chicken looks delicious!

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  20. Oh, boy, does this look fabulous! I love the smell of the house when I'm roasting a chicken...and will have to try this recipe soon :)

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  21. I saw this recipe earlier when thumbing through today's SRC list. Looks delicious. Love your pictures. Thanks for stopping by my blog!!!

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  22. Thanks for the great recipe ! I've made and posted this on my blog now too! http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2012/01/jamie-oliver-chicken-homemade-chicken.html

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