I have to admit to a huge love of roast chicken. Back in Blightly roasting some kind of meat is a Sunday tradition. Families would get together over a large roast dinner, with meat, potatoes, vegetables, sauces, and a whole bunch of other stuff. If there is one tradition that is country wide, it would be that of Sunday lunch. When you were kids, if you were playing over at a friends house on Sunday, then it was almost expected that you would be there for Sunday lunch. Likewise, if you had friends over, they generally would stay for Sunday lunches too. It was honestly a great way of families to get together. A good sense of community too – people made sure kids were at the dinner table on Sunday. If a chicken was roasted, you would normally have stuffing (sage and onion normally), and bread sauce. Bread sauce sounds funky, but is actually really great. Milk is heated a variety of spices (cloves and onion often), to which breadcrumbs are added to form a thick sauce. Sounds horrible, but tastes great. If you were roasting some beef, you always had to have Yorkshire Puddings or “Yorkies” as they are known. These are really just small batter cakes, that are roasted alongside the meat. I will have to make some soon, and post them on the blog. You always had horseradish sauce with beef too. If you were having lamb, mint sauce was a must. Pork – always apple sauce. Roast dinners were always pretty traditional, not much changed from family to family. Families got together over a good meal and some drinks. No matter how crazy the week was, you always met for Sunday lunch.

I have somewhat lost the tradition of it living over here to be honest. Maybe it is because stores are open here on Sunday (most stores in England close on Sunday, so you cannot run errands, even if you want to), or that I have a wee nipper, but my Sundays are always jam packed with stuff, and I never get round to cooking a Sunday lunch. I reckon I have to try hard to change that.

So I felt like roasting a chicken this weekend. I haven’t done one for a few months now, so it is about time. About a year ago now I got on a roast chicken kick – I wanted to find the best roast chicken. We tried a bunch of local restaurants, and ate some really great chicken. Then the time came to try and create the best at home. For me a good roast chicken is a composite of a few factors. The skin has to be crispy, and a fantastic golden color. The meat evenly cooked, and not the slightest bit dry (the breast tends to cook quicker than the legs). The meat should also be deeply flavorful (well duh…). A few local places would flavor their roast chickens with herbs or spices, mostly in a brine. This was tasty, but most were so strong that the herbs and spices overpowered the flavor of the chicken.

It all starts with the perfect chicken. One between 2 and 4lbs is always a good bet. The best place to pick up a decent bird as at a farmers market. There are some great farms with organic pasture raised chickens – these are the best bet. Failing that, Trader Joes actually does a pretty decent organic chicken (their own brand, not the other chickens they carry). Unfortunately I wasn’t near a farmers market, or Traders Joes yesterday. I had to settle for a Whole Foods organic, veg fed chicken. Certainly not the worst by any means.

Next stage is cleaning. The bird should be washed inside and out, and dried really well with paper towel. If you ask me you want to remove as much water as possible, to reduce steam and help create a crispier skin. That is my 10c worth. So, I always dry my chicken really well.

On to the seasoning. One of the most important steps. For my rosemary chicken, I just put chopped fresh rosemary on the skin, and into the cavity of the bird. A small local restaurant in Ballard does a rosemary chicken also, and they brine their chickens overnight. The result was great, but it had a really strong rosemary flavor – so much so you couldn’t taste the chicken at all. I prefer this method – the result is subtle (even though you use a lot of rosemary), and also easier.

So, just chop up some rosemary (3 8″ stalks) leaves, and sprinkle. Next comes salt and pepper. I like Kosher salt for this, and fresh ground black pepper. Don’t skimp here. Put some in the cavity, and also make sure the skin has a good amount on too. About 1 tablespoon worth should see it right. The salt will help draw moisture from the skin, and make it even crispier.

And finally… Trussing. No, nothing kinky, just tying up the bird to make a neat little package. Lots of people disagree here. Some say never truss, others say always truss. The theory is that it pulls the legs closer to the breast, helping to protect the breast, and make things cook more evenly. Other people think it makes the different parts of the bird cook completely unevenly. Well, I like to truss chickens. There, I have said it. The easiest way to do this is to start with the wings. Bend those puppies back under the bird, so they stay put. Now, take a long bit of string, and center it on the top of the breast, directly above the wings. Pass it all the way under the bird, making sure you trap the wings. Go round again. Now, pull each end out in between the breast and the legs. Pull the legs in close to the bird, and tie up the drumsticks with the open ends of twine. Finally wrap these under the body, making sure everything is secure, and tie off. Bingo. This bird ain’t going anywhere.

 To make a long story longer – this now gets bunged in an oven at 450 for about 50 minutes. You want the internal temperature of the chicken (taken between the leg and breast) to be about 160 degrees, when cooked. If the breast starts to brown too much during cooking, I just chuck some foil over the bird.

So, that is the chicken.

I like to serve an au jus with a roast chicken. Mine is made by simmering some chicken broth with vegetables and herbs (carrots, onion, leek, garlic, thyme and bay) for about 30 minutes. When the bird is done, I take it out of the pan, and put it to rest on a cutting board (and cover it with foil to keep warm). I take the juice out of the cooking pan, and into a measuring jug. Using a turkey baster I suck up the juice from the chicken, and leave the top layer of fat. This then gets put back into the cooking pan. This pan goes onto a high heat, and strained chicken broth goes in. Let it boil, mix it around, get up all the burnt bits from the pan. It should start smelling fantastic. When this has reduced by about 2/3′s, it is ready to go.

I am somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to food, but I like a twist. Typically sage and onion stuffing is served with chicken in England. I wanted to combine these flavors into this dish, but not as stuffing. So, we have a quick mixture of peas, shallots, sage and mushrooms, as a base for the chicken. Really simple to be honest. The shallots get gently cooked, and to this I combine the sage and mushrooms. When these have just about cooked through, I throw in the peas. I have to say, if you cannot find fresh peas, frozen ones actually work fine. I am not a fan of frozen veg, but peas are an exception. Whilst they aren’t as good as fresh, they are by no means bad at all. If this starts getting a bit dry, I just use a little chicken stock as a cooking liquid.

WOW.. A long post. Shows how in love I am with roast chicken. But that is the dish. It is going to be in the Wrightfood cookbook. It has to be. Happy times people!

Oh.. and the oven. Well, I have been a touch lazy, and not cleaned it. What makes this worse is that it is a self clean electric oven. I am now somewhat worried however, because the self clean is going to smoke the whole house out. Hopefully I can hold off  a while longer, the kitchen gets renovated in 5 weeks, and we are getting a swanky Bluestar all gas range. yay!