Jamie Oliver's Lemon Roast Chicken

The lovely Jesse, SIL and I had a second cook-out yesterday. This time we had Lemon Roast Chicken and Mocha Java Cakes for dinner and dessert respectively.

I've used Jamie's recipe over the years whenever a roast chook is called for and have never regretted it. It remains to this day one of the best recipes I've ever made with spot-on results.

Preparation for dinner and dessert started at 7pm after Jesse arrived with the shopping. As usual there was a lot of chatting going on during the prep so by the time we sat down to dinner it was well past 9pm!

Still, well worth the wait (as you cannot hurry a good roast) as we were rewarded with a scrumptiously moist and succulent dish. (gobble, gobble) We finished dinner on a sweet note of very molten Mocha Java Cakes (more about that later) and a deliciously crisp, sweet Alice White Moscato.

I toddled-off to bed very tired but happy last night... and am sure the rest did too!

JAMIE OLIVER'S LEMON ROAST CHICKEN

Adapted from Jamie Oliver

2kg Chicken

Sea Salt

Black Pepper, freshly ground

Olive Oil

1.5kg Potatoes, peeled

1 large Lemon

8 cloves Garlic

1 handful fresh Thyme

1 handful fresh Rosemary sprigs, leaves picked

8 rashers Smoked Streaky Bacon

Rub the Chicken inside and out with a generous amount of Sea Salt, freshly ground Black Pepper and Olive Oil. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the Chicken and leave in the fridge until you're ready to start cooking it for lunch or dinner.

Preheat your oven to 190 Celsius.

Bring a large pan of Water to the boil. Cut the Potatoes into quarters, put them into the Water with the whole Lemon and Garlic cloves. Cook for 15 minutes until Potatoes are done. Drain into a colander and allow to steam dry for 1 minute (this will give you crispier Potatoes), then remove the Lemon and Garlic.

Toss the Potatoes and Rosemary in the colander while still hot so their outsides get chuffed-up and fluffy – this will make them lovely and crispy when they roast.

While the Lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times.

Take the Chicken out of the fridge. 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.

After the 45 minute mark, remove the Chicken from the oven. Some lovely fat should have cooked out of it into the roasting tray, so toss the Potatoes and Rosemary in the fat and arrange them at the side of the Chicken.

Lay the Bacon over the Chicken breast and cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the Chicken is cooked and the Potatoes are nice and golden. (You can tell the Chicken is cooked when the thigh meat pulls easily away from the bone and the juices run clear.)

Serve immediately with a nice cool Salad.