You can’t beat a roast chicken for value to feed the family at Sunday dinner. My Italian-style roast chicken is inspired by a couple of different recipes and I have combined the best elements of both.
The tender chicken combined with the colourful roasted vegetables served on a platter makes a fantastic centrepiece. Then everyone just digs in.
Ingredients
- 1 chicken approximately 1.5kg / 3lb
- 1 unwaxed lemon cut in half
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- ½ bunch basil leaves
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 3 leeks washed and trimmed
- 2 red peppers
- 1 orange pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- 100 grams pitted dry-packed black olives
- 60 ml olive oil
- sea salt flakes to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/gas mark 6/400ºF. In a pestle and mortar, bash up the garlic and basil leaves with a pinch of salt until you have a rough paste. Muddle in a lug of olive oil and a pinch of pepper.
- Use your sharpest knife to make three slashes on each of the chicken legs, cutting right down to the bone. Tip the paste over the chicken and use your hands to really rub the paste into all of the slashes, nooks and crannies.
- Sit the chicken in a roasting tin and put the lemon halves and 2 of the rosemary sprigs into the chicken’s cavity.
- Cut each leek into 3 logs, then slice lengthways and add to the tin. Now, remove the core and seeds of the peppers and slice them into strips, following their natural curves and ridges, and add these to the tin. Tumble in the olives, and now pour the olive oil, mostly over the vegetables but a little over the chicken, too. Add the remaining rosemary sprigs to the vegetables, along with some sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper, to taste, and, using a couple of spoons or spatulas, gently toss the vegetables about to help coat them with the oil and make sure everything’s well mixed up.
- Sprinkle some sea salt flakes over the chicken and put it in the oven for about 1– 1¼ hours, by which time the chicken should be cooked through, and its juices running clear when you cut into the flesh with a small sharp knife at the thickest part of the thigh joint. The vegetables should be tender by now, too, and some of the leeks will be a scorched light-brown in parts.
- Remove the chicken to a carving board and, while it rests (for about 10 minutes), pop the pan of veg back in the oven, switching the oven off as you do so.
- Cut the chicken up chunkily, transferring the pieces to a large warmed platter. Now take the pan back out of the oven and, with a slotted spoon or spatula, remove the vegetables to the large platter and when all is arranged to your aesthetic delight, pour over it all the bronze, highly flavoured juices that have collected in the pan.
Nutrition
Calories: 435kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g
You may also like one of my other recipes …
1
Creamy Chicken with Garlic and Peppers
Quick and easy one-pan sauteed chicken with garlic and peppers in a cream sauce.
Check out this recipe
2
Spanish Chicken Bake
This Spanish-style chicken bake is a one-pot wonder that’s made with juicy chorizo, chicken and veg. Perfect for a midweek supper or a weekend alternative to a weekend roast.
Check out this recipe
