Ahhh… roasted chicken, fresh and hot from the oven. Chicken is a versatile, delicious and affordable type of meat, there’s a million ways to cook it and so I really like eating chicken (just surely and most definitely not the girls in my backyard – that would be downright treason 🙂 ) Sooo…
One of my favourites is aromatic, hearty roasted chicken, which is surprisingly easy to make and IMHO, the simpler you keep it the better it tastes. I use an unpretentious chicken roasting stand (something like this one) which facilitates things even more. You can always substitue this for a sheet pan with a grate, but the benefit of a stand is that it saves you from turning the bird over since the heat reaches every part of the chicken, roasting it uniformly. Also, scooping up drippings for brushing is much easier. Any cheap one will do, the only essential thing is that it comes with a dripping tray.
Read how to make this dish below. It looks like a lot of text, but it really boils down to some cleaning, some brushing and some waiting. Plus, the resulting mess is absolutely bearable.
Ingredients (for 2):1 fresh broiler for roasting |
Method:Rinse the chicken (especially the cavity), then pat it dry very thoroughly and trim off excess fat, excess skin and the parson’s nose. Remove any loose… things… from the cavity. Keep fat and skin trimmings, throw away the rest. In a small bowl mix cooking oil, paprika, (plus optionally some garlic powder), salt and pepper very well. This marinade should come out on the rather salty and tangy side. Place the bird, butt down, on the roasting rack and use a kitchen brush to liberally coat the bird with the marinade trying to reach every last part of the surface. Pour the rest of the marinade inside the cavity. Let this rest for about 10 to 15 minutes while preheating your oven to 180°C convection (turn this up to ~190°C for above-and-below heat). After the time is up, spread the marinade drippings that have accumulated in the rack’s tray on the bird’s skin again. Add the skin and fat trimmings to the rack tray, they will release aromatic fat in the process. Transfer to the oven to roast for 45 up to 60 mins., depending on the chicken’s size. Brush the surface with the delicious drippings from the tray every 15 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and place on a cutting board. Cut in half (poultry shears work best), ideally removing the spine and breast bone. I’m bavarian so it’s “a hoibs hendl” (“half a chick”) for each. I served it with roast potatoes and a little bit of the drippings drizzled on everything. |
