Garlic Butter-Roast Chicken with Lemon Thyme Stuffing
Christall Lowe
tags:Issue 226
Serves
4 - 5Ingredients
2kg whole fresh chicken | |
salt and pepper | |
1 lemon, cut into quarters | |
3 small bunches tarata (lemonwood) leaves, still on the stalk (optional) | |
2 whole bulbs of garlic, sliced in half crosswise | |
75g butter, melted | |
3 tablespoons olive oil | |
4 cloves garlic, crushed | |
FOR THE STUFFING | |
6 slices bread | |
1 onion, diced | |
2 cloves garlic, crushed | |
1 medium carrot, grated | |
2 tablespoons thyme, dried or fresh | |
1 teaspoon salt | |
zest and juice of 1 medium lemon | |
100g butter, melted | |
FOR THE GRAVY | |
2 tablespoons plain flour | |
approx. 1 cup water | |
1 tablespoon soy sauce | |
salt to taste |
Roast chicken is a staple in our household, and when I’m short on time and don’t want to spend ages standing at the stove cooking, I simply rub a chook with seasoning, pour over melted butter and pop it in the oven. What’s more, I always use any leftover meat in filled rolls or sandwiches the next day and save the cooked carcass for making chicken stock or soup. For next-level roast chook definitely make the lemon thyme stuffing.
View the recipe collection here
Instructions
1. | Heat oven to 200°C. |
2. | To make the stuffing, break the bread into small pieces by hand, or in a food processor. |
3. | Combine all stuffing ingredients in a bowl, mixing with your hands to combine. |
4. | Pat chicken with paper towels to dry completely. |
5. | Season liberally with salt and pepper, inside and out. |
6. | Stuff the chicken cavity with the quartered lemon, then a small handful of tarata leaves, and lastly the stuffing. |
7. | Tie the legs together using twine or flax. |
8. | Place the remaining bunches of tarata and the halved garlic bulbs in the bottom of a roasting dish – this becomes a fragrant bed for the chicken to sit on. |
9. | Place the chicken breast-side-up in the roasting pan. |
10. | Mix together the melted butter, olive oil and crushed garlic, and pour over the chicken. |
11. | Roast the chicken for 1½ hours until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and a thigh, basting once or twice with the juices and butter that accumulate in the pan. |
12. | Remove from the oven, transfer the chicken, tarata leaves and garlic to a serving dish, cover with foil and allow to stand for 10 minutes. |
13. | While the chicken rests, make the gravy. Spoon off any excess fat from the roasting dish, and place the dish over a medium heat. |
14. | Add any juices from the resting chicken. |
15. | Add the flour and stir into the juices until combined. |
16. | Add the water a little at a time, stirring through after each addition. |
17. | Simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly, and scraping all the sticky roasted bits from the bottom of the pan. |
18. | Add more water if necessary to get to your desired consistency. |
19. | Add the soy sauce, which will help to colour up the gravy as well as flavour it. Season with salt to taste, if necessary. |
20. | Pour gravy into a jug and serve alongside the roast chicken, smashed potatoes and seasonal greens. |
This is an extract from Kai
Feast: Food stories and
recipes from the maunga
to the moana by Christall
Lowe. Photography Christall
Lowe, published by Bateman
Books Oct 2024, $59.99.