Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary Potatoes

I have to admit we do quite a few roast dinners but rarely a roast chicken. I cannot explain why that is - we just don't. Being home from work today I decided that we would have a roast chicken dinner tonight.
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Of course, I just couldn't pop it in the oven and cook it... I had to experiment. After reading a few (well lots) of recipes I came finally across a Jamie Oliver recipe that took my fancy. Not only did the picture look nice the use of fresh herbs really captured my attention... as everyone knows I love fresh herbs.

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary Roast Potatoes

(recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver)

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Serves: 8

Points per serve: 7.5

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1 x 2 kilogram whole chicken

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 kilograms, peeled

1 large lemon

1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves

a handful of fresh thyme

olive oil

sprinkle sweet paprika

a handful of fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked

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Rinse and dry the chicken. Rub the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover the chicken and leave in the fridge until you're ready to start cooking it for lunch or dinner.
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About 30 minutes before you plan to cook the chicken remove it from the bench and allow it to come to room temperature.
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Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celcius.
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Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into pieces, put them into the water with the whole lemon and the garlic cloves, and cook for 12 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for 1 minute, then remove the lemon and garlic. Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot so their outsides get chuffed up and fluffy.

While the lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times. Pat the chicken with kitchen paper and rub it all over with olive oil and sprinkle over the sweet paprika. Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon and the thyme into the cavity, then put the chicken into a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Drain most of the fat from the roasting tray, leaving around a tablespoon.
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Toss the potatoes into this with the rosemary leaves. Shake the tray around, then make a gap in the centre of the potatoes and put the chicken back in. Cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are nice and golden. Ensure juices run clear.....


(click here for a printable version of this recipe)