I've been meaning to try to record one of my recipes in photos for ages, but never quite got around to it. So when I decided this morning to make a sort of Asian twist on a classic Sunday roast, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go. The food seems to have gone down rather well. As for the recipe and photos, we'll see...
The idea with the chicken here is to take classic herb-buttered chicken, and swap in lime leaves, coriander and lemon grass in place of traditional English herbs. l like to get the butter under the skin of the chicken: this puts the chicken flesh in direct contact with the herbs, so of course if soaks up more flavour.
The gravy is a simple, last minute concoction, just drawing on the ingredients from the chicken with a little lemon to sharpen it up. I'm not sure how English-style roasties would stack up with this, so I settled on tasty, whole-roast, skin-on baby potatoes. As for other veg: we stuck with honeyed carrots, but some pak choi or broccoli stems would have gone down a treat too.
The ingredients
For 2-3 people
For the roast
A good quality, whole chicken
A good quality, whole chicken
About 10 kaffir lime leaves
A bunch of coriander
4 sticks of lemongrass
4 cloves of garlic
50g of butter
Turmeric
1 red onion
About 10 small new potatoes
Turmeric
1 red onion
About 10 small new potatoes
For honey glazed carrots
About 4 carrots
Runny honey
Ground coriander seed
For the gravy
1 pint of good quality chicken stock
Another red onion
Another clove of garlic
A little sugar - palm sugar if you have it
Half a lemon
Half a lemon
General seasoning
Sea salt (flakes if you can get them)
Black pepper
Olive oil
~~~
The recipe
First up, the herb butter: finely chop the lime leaves, most of the
coriander leaves (keeping the stalks for stuffing and some of the leaves
for sprinkling later), 2 of the lemon grass stalks (removing the outer
layer and using only the white bits, saving the rest for the gravy), and 2 peeled garlic cloves. Then mash and mix all these with about 50 grams of butter. It should be squishy but not runny: stick it back in the fridge for a bit if need be.
For the next bit, you need to get your fingers under the skin at the stuffing end of the chicken and gently pull it away from the breasts as far as towards
other end as you can, without tearing it. Then stick about quarter of the herb butter under the skin of of each
breast and spread it out as evenly as you can. Then massage on top of the skin on both breasts to really
smooth the butter out.
Bash the other two lemon grass stalks to bruise them and release their flavours,
and stuff them inside the chicken's cavity with the saved coriander
stalks and the other two whole, peeled cloves of garlic. Then smear the
rest of the herb butter all over the chicken.
Finally, sprinkle the chicken with
salt, plenty of freshly ground pepper and about a teaspoon of turmeric, and put it in a lightly oiled dish large enough to take the potatoes later.
Stick it in the oven at 200C (390F). It needs about 45 minutes per kg (20 minutes per lb), plus 10-20 minutes. About every half hour, baste the chicken to keep it juicy: whip it out of the oven, use a metal spoon to spoon the juices in the dish back over the top of the chicken, and get it back in the oven again as quickly as you can.
Meanwhile, slice the carrots into 2-4 chunky long wedges each, stick them in another roasting dish, and roll them around in about 1 tablespoon or olive oil, 1 tablespoon of runny honey and 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, to mix everything up. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and put them on the side for now.
About
an hour before the chicken is going to be ready, slice the onion into
six big chunks. Then pull the chicken of out of the oven, baste it, and
put the onion chunks and whole small potatoes in the dish around it.
Roll them about to get them nicely covered in oil (take care not to burn
yourself!) and drizzle a little more olive oil over them if need be.
Then sprinkle a little salt on the vegetables and get the chicken back
in the oven. Pop the carrots in the bottom of the oven at same time.
Shortly before the chicken is due to be ready, start making the gravy: roughly chop the onion and garlic, and gently sautee these in a pan with a little butter (or even better, some of the fat from the chicken).
Use a vegetable peeler to take two strips of peel off the lemon, and use a knife to gently scrape away any of the bitter white pith on the back of these. Then pop the lemon peel bits on the top of the onions, together with any bits of lemon grass stalks that were left over.
When you're the chicken is done (stick a skewer deep into various parts of the bird and push gently against the skin to make sure the juices run clear), pull it out of the oven, move it to a warm dish with the potatoes, and keep warm. The carrots should be also be done by now, so pull them out of the oven and keep them warm too.
Pour the juices and roast onions from the dish into the gravy pan and scrape any brown and burny bits in too. Add about a pint of chicken stock, and give the whole lot a good mix. There will probably be far too much fat from the chicken in the pot, which will quickly separate out and float on top of the gravy. Remove this by holding a metal spoon just below the surface of the liquid - watch the fat flow into the spoon, move it to a spare cup, and repeat until there is very little fat left.
Once this is done, add half a teaspoon of sugar or palm sugar to sweeten the gravy, and a small squeeze of juice from the lemon to sharpen it. Then boil it hard for a few minutes until it has reduced to about half a pint, turn it down and test the flavour. You'll want to tweak it with salt, pepper, sugar and lemon juice until it tastes just right.
To thicken the gravy, mix a teaspoon of plain flour with a little cold water in a cup, pour about half of it in, give it a good stir, and cook until it thickens. After a few minutes, you can add some more of the flour mix if you want it to be thicker - but don't overdo it, and make sure any floury taste is thoroughly cooked away before you serve the gravy.
Finally, carve the chicken and serve up with the potatoes and carrots, gravy poured over, and the last few coriander leaves sprinkled over the top.
Use a vegetable peeler to take two strips of peel off the lemon, and use a knife to gently scrape away any of the bitter white pith on the back of these. Then pop the lemon peel bits on the top of the onions, together with any bits of lemon grass stalks that were left over.
When you're the chicken is done (stick a skewer deep into various parts of the bird and push gently against the skin to make sure the juices run clear), pull it out of the oven, move it to a warm dish with the potatoes, and keep warm. The carrots should be also be done by now, so pull them out of the oven and keep them warm too.
Pour the juices and roast onions from the dish into the gravy pan and scrape any brown and burny bits in too. Add about a pint of chicken stock, and give the whole lot a good mix. There will probably be far too much fat from the chicken in the pot, which will quickly separate out and float on top of the gravy. Remove this by holding a metal spoon just below the surface of the liquid - watch the fat flow into the spoon, move it to a spare cup, and repeat until there is very little fat left.
Once this is done, add half a teaspoon of sugar or palm sugar to sweeten the gravy, and a small squeeze of juice from the lemon to sharpen it. Then boil it hard for a few minutes until it has reduced to about half a pint, turn it down and test the flavour. You'll want to tweak it with salt, pepper, sugar and lemon juice until it tastes just right.
To thicken the gravy, mix a teaspoon of plain flour with a little cold water in a cup, pour about half of it in, give it a good stir, and cook until it thickens. After a few minutes, you can add some more of the flour mix if you want it to be thicker - but don't overdo it, and make sure any floury taste is thoroughly cooked away before you serve the gravy.
Finally, carve the chicken and serve up with the potatoes and carrots, gravy poured over, and the last few coriander leaves sprinkled over the top.
Yum!
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Thanks Tups!
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