Last night’s culinary experiment was Jamie Oliver’s Lemon Roast Chicken, as inspired by the gorgeous photo on this blog post. (I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of mine before we tore it apart!) I splurged on a free-range, organic chicken from the butcher. In the morning before work, I gave it a rinse, patted it dry, and rubbed it with salt and pepper. (This wasn’t easy. For some reason, whole raw chickens give me the heebie-jeebies. I’m fine with cut up chickens and with other joints of meat, but somehow picking up a whole chicken makes my skin crawl a little bit. I mean, once it’s cooked it’s a beautiful roast and I’m fine with that, but when it’s raw I’m just acutely aware that it’s a DEAD BIRD CARCASS, and I hate birds.) Anyway, I left it in the fridge all day to, I dunno, brine or something. When I got home, I fired up the oven and started cutting up potatoes. I boiled the potatoes, lemon, and garlic as directed, then shoved the (stabbed) lemon and garlic up the chicken’s bum. Forty-five minutes of roasting later, I put in the potatoes and rosemary and tossed them around. I also put a bit more olive oil on top at this point, as the skin on top was looking a little dry. (I would’ve used bacon as in the recipe, but SOMEBODY ate it all.) Another forty-five minutes in the oven and it was done. It ended up being delicious! The meat was moist and I could taste the lemon and thyme in the breast meat. I think when I do it again I might add a little duck fat with the potatoes to make them extra crispy (as this chicken wasn’t that fatty). But in terms of reward for effort, this is a pretty easy way to make a “proper” dinner that will impress just about anybody.
Check it out! It’s my forthcoming emo band album. We’re called the Donald Danford Plant Science Center and our first EP is “…a kind of death.” We’re very deep. Ten percent of the proceeds from each album sale will go to protect the red-beaked Random Bird and the gentle Random Deer. I expect you’ll be hearing us on Triple J any minute now.
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