Ingredients
| 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.