Family Dinner: Whole Chicken Roast

This is a very easy and cozy dish to cook when you have family coming over or when you want to cook something that will last you more than just one meal (you know, when you get lazy the next day). We had this beautiful free range chicken form our selected farming sources (meaning my parents) and we chose some fried new /early potatoes as a side dish. I wouldn’t call this dish a recipe per say (it’s just about stuffing a chicken in the oven with some fried potatoes), but it’s actually about a very nice feeling that this dish gives me (you know, when something tastes like Christmas). 

The cooking time and the ingredients vary depending on the size and age of your chicken, the younger the better. If you’re using a supermarket meat, that will tend to cook faster. So, the main star, a 1-1.5 kilo chicken, I rubbed with a paste composed of: grinded cumin, grinded fennel seeds, black pepper, salt, crushed garlic (4 cloves for my chicken, use more if needed), juice from 1 lemon, 5- 6 tbs of olive oil. The inside of the poultry I stuffed with some tarragon and parsley leaves and garlic (whole).

Before rubbing the chicken with the above mentioned combo, I took some red beet juice and poured it over the meat, then, after I applied the paste, I grated some more beet over the chicken. Also, to protect the poultry, I cut some thick sections of beet that I placed on the bottom of the oven tray, so the chicken sat on those (those sections cooked very nice and tasted great, even if, initially I only wanted to use them as support). Feel free to drizzle the bottom of the tray with some wine (go rose on this one) or some stock, it will help keep the meat moist, but don’t overdo it, as you still want a crispy look on your meat. 

Put it in the oven, tray uncovered, at medium heat for how long it takes the meat to easily fall of the bone. Fry some potatoes (or make a celery/carrot puree, or cook some easy yams, or a quick green beans or peas side dish, everything works here, go wild with some sun dried tomatoes or artichokes, etc.), and, if you feel like it, whip a salad to go with it. And Merry Christmas J

Just kidding, enjoy!