Friday 8 August 2014

Spanish Roast Chicken

This is my delicious, summery and rather orange take on the Sunday roast dinner... 

 The chorizo adds lots of colour and smokey flavour to the vegetables that gets soaked up as they cook and the chicken is smothered in a fragrant rub a few hours in advance which makes it delicious and succulent.



Recipe:
(Serves 4)

1x whole 1.5lb chicken (no insides)
1 and 1/2 lemon
150g chorizo, sliced into 1/2cm rounds
1 whole butternut squash, peeled, deseeded & cubed into 1 inch pieces
2 red onions, quartered
700g new potatoes, halved
250g cherry tomatoes
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

For the paste:
50g margarine 
Pinch of salt & pepper 
1 tsp sunflower oil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp lemon juice 


Put the chicken in a roasting dish then put half a lemon inside the cavity of the chicken. In a bowl, mix all the paste ingredients together and rub all over the chicken. Try and get some under the skin as well (use a spoon to separate the skin from the meat). 

Loosely cover with foil and leave in the fridge for about 3 hours so all the flavours infuse. 

In total, the chicken needs to be cooked for about 1 hour and 45 minutes or until completely cooked through and the juices run clear (basting regularly). Use a meat thermometer if you are unsure if it is cooked through.

Preheat the oven to 190c and then pop the chicken in the oven (keeping the foil on).

After  45 minutes, pour the oil in a large baking tray and place on the shelf below the chicken in the oven. Place the potatoes in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 10 minutes until slightly softened, drain and transfer the potatoes to the tray of hot oil. Add the butternut squash, thyme and seasoning then roast in the oven for 30 minutes turning regularly.

After the 30 minutes is up, add the onions (and remove the tin foil from the chicken if it needs some more colour) then return to the oven for another 30 minutes. 

After the 30 minutes is up, remove the chicken and check it is cooked through. If it is, leave it to rest with a layer of tin foil covering it.

Whack the oven up to 220c and add the tomatoes and chorizo to the potatoes pan. Roast for a further 30 minutes until everything is golden and the chorizo oil has run orange all over the veg. 

Transfer the chicken to a large platter and scatter the veg around it using a slotted spoon so not to take all the oil with you (the chorizo produces quite a bit).

Adorn with the parsley then serve with the other lemon cut into wedges and let everyone help themselves.




 

1 comment:

  1. I made this today and can highly recommend it - it's absolutely delicious!

    ReplyDelete