Easy Roast Chicken and Potatoes

Roast chicken, roast potatoes and broccoli

Recently, I shared on this blog details of an Indian rogan josh spatchcock chicken served with turmeric and red onion rice recipe. It was mentioned to me by someone that they loved the idea of preparing a chicken in this way but without the spicy influences. For this reason, today I'm sharing a simple, straightforward recipe for roasted spatchcock chicken served with potatoes roasted in the chicken juices.

Potatoes are parboiled prior to being roasted

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 2 hours 20 min

Ready in: 2 hours 30 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Baby new potatoes as required
• Salt
• 1 medium chicken
• Black pepper
• Vegetable oil
  
• 1 medium head of broccoli 

 

Chicken is spatchcocked by removing the backbone

Directions

Wash the potatoes and cut them in half but leave them unpeeled. Put them in to a pot of cold, salted water and simmer for about 15 minutes until just partly cooked. Drain and set aside to steam off, dry out and cool down. Cover until required.

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.

Sit the chicken broad end down on a chopping board and carefully cut down either side of the backbone with a cleaver or very sharp and robust knife. Remove the bone and discard. Weigh the bird to establish cooking time of 20 minutes per pound and 20 minutes over.

Chicken fully prepared for oven roasting

Lightly oil a deep roasting tray. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on the flesh side and lay on the tray flesh side down. Season the top of the bird liberally with salt only and place the tray in to the oven for the allotted cooking period. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.

Spatchcock roast chicken must be left to rest

Take the chicken from the oven (but don't turn the oven off) and pierce the thickest part of each thigh with a skewer to ensure the juices run clear. If not, cook for 10 more minutes before testing again. Carefully lift to a large plate, cover with foil and leave to rest.

Pour another 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil in to the hot tray and add the cooled potatoes. Turn them around carefully in the oil and roast for 20 minutes, stirring carefully again half way through.

Chop the broccoli in to even sized florets and add to a pot of simmering, salted water for 5 minutes.

Roast potatoes are drained on kitchen paper

Take the potatoes from the oven and lift to a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain. Cut the legs from the chicken and slice off the breast fillets. Drain the broccoli and serve a leg portion and breast portion of the chicken along with half the potatoes and half the broccoli per person.

Rogan Josh Roast Chicken with Rice

Rogan josh roast chicken with spicy turmeric and onion rice

Roast chicken is a hugely popular dish worldwide and perhaps even the most favourite meal of millions. While simplicity is often the best option in cooking, it is possible to spice up the simple roast chicken in many different ways to give it a little edge or even a twist of variety. This is one such method which sees the spatchcocked chicken liberally coated with rogan josh cooking sauce before it is roasted to perfection in the oven and served with tasty turmeric and onion rice.

Prep time: 15 minutes (plus marinating time for chicken)
Cook time: 2 hours 30 minutes (approximately, depending upon size of chicken)
Ready in: 2 hours 45 minutes (plus marinating time for chicken)
Serves: 2 large portions with chicken leftovers

Ingredients

1 large whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds)
1 pound jar of rogan josh cooking sauce
Vegetable oil for greasing roasting tray
Salt
6 ounces brown rice (or as desired)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander leaf/cilantro
1/4 small red onion
Black pepper
 

Skin is firstly loosened on whole chicken

Instructions

Spoon 1/3 of the rogan josh cooking sauce in to a small bowl, cover and set aside for later use. Pour a little vegetable oil in to what will be your cooking tray and use some scrunched up kitchen paper to spread it around to create a thin film coating.

Make sure you know the weight of your chicken, weighing it if necessary. It is easiest if you loosen the skin on the chicken before you start the spatchcock process. Take your time doing this if you have never done it before as it is vitally important not to tear the skin. For this reason, make sure your fingernails are very well trimmed when undertaking this task. Simply start at the neck end of the breasts and carefully slide your flattened hand under the skin, gently easing it firstly free of the breasts then the upper thighs and legs. The skin should appear loose when you are finished but still largely and very much in place.

Backbone is cut from whole chicken

Sit the chicken upright on its beam end on a chopping board, breasts facing away from you. Take a Chinese cleaver or extremely robust and sharp chef's knife and cut down either side of the back bone (it is about an inch wide). Remove the backbone and discard, before opening up the chicken and laying it flat on your chopping board.

Rogan josh sauce is liberally spread over opened chicken cavity

Spoon half the remaining rogan josh sauce (1/3 of the jar) over the opened up chicken cavity area and smooth it over the entire surface. Wipe your hands and lift the chicken on to the roasting tray, breasts side up.

Rogan josh chicken is ready for oven roasting

Lift the skin at the neck end of the chicken and spoon in the remaining rogan josh sauce, using either a flat spoon or your hand again to gently and evenly ease it all the way back over the breasts, the upper thighs and as much of the legs as you can easily reach. Cover the chicken with some foil and leave to marinate at room temperature for at least a couple of hours (longer is better).

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 and season the chicken skin all over with salt. This will help it to crisp up during cooking. When the oven is heated, cook the chicken for 20 minutes per pound and 20 minutes over.

Rogan josh roast chicken is removed from the oven

Take the chicken from the oven and stick a skewer in to the thickest part of the thigh. The juices should run clear, with no traces of blood. If not, cook for 15 more minutes and test again. If all is OK, set it aside for 30 minutes to rest.

Wash the rice through a sieve under running cold water. Bring a large pot of water, seasoned with plenty salt and the ground turmeric to a rolling boil. Add the rice, stir well and bring back to a modest simmer for 20 minutes (or per the pack instructions), stirring occasionally. Drain well at your sink through the sieve and leave for a few minutes to steam off and dry out.

Cut the leg portions from the chicken and cut each in half to separate the drumsticks from the thighs. Pop the wings free from the main body of the bird. Carefully slice the two breast fillets free from the body and set the carcass, wings and drumsticks aside for later picking/consumption, refrigerating when cool. Lay each breast fillet flat on the chopping board and slice across the way in to 3 or 4 pieces.

Pour the reserved rogan josh sauce in to a small saucepan and heat on a low setting, stirring occasionally, until simmering hot.

Onion and coriander are added to turmeric rice

Return the rice to the empty pot. Slice the onion as thinly as you can and separate in to strands before adding to the rice along with the chopped coriander (cilantro) and some black pepper. Stir to combine. Divide between two serving plates and lay a chicken thigh and breast portions alongside each rice bed. Spoon the heated sauce over the breast meat to serve.

Rogan josh roast chicken portions are plated with turmeric rice

Roast Chicken Thighs with Chilli Sauce

Roast chicken thighs served on a bed of spicy spinach sauce

It is probably more commonly lunch which is comprised of fridge leftovers but this dinner recipe was devised using principal ingredients which all constituted leftover but uncooked items in my fridge. It's amazing what you can often come up with using such items if you just put a little bit of thought and imagination in to it.

Prep time: 25 minutes (includes oven heating time and chicken resting time)
Cook time: 40 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour 5 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients

2 medium to large chicken thighs (skin on)
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil
3/4 medium red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon hot chilli powder
3 plum tomatoes in tomato juice (1/2 of a 14 ounce can)
2 generous handfuls baby spinach leaves
1 tablespoon freshly chopped coriander leaf/cilantro

Oven ready chicken thighs

Instructions

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

Season the chicken thighs on the underside with salt and pepper and lay them skin sides up in a suitable casserole dish. Season the skin liberally with salt only. This well help it crisp up and colour during cooking. When the oven is heated, place the dish (without the lid!) in to the oven for 35/40 minutes.

Onion, garlic and chilli powder ready for sauteing

Pour 2 or 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in to a large saucepan. Slice the onion, peel and finely slice the garlic cloves and add them to the pan with the chilli powder. Put the pan on to a medium heat and saute for a few minutes until the onion is just softened.

Plum tomatoes are added to spiced onions

Pour the tomatoes in to the softened spiced onions and season with salt and pepper. Stir well with a wooden spoon, using the spoon to break up the tomatoes as much as you can. Bring to a simmer for an initial 10 minutes.

Spinach is added to spicy tomato sauce

Wash the spinach leaves under running cold water and shake dry. Add them to the spicy sauce and carefully stir/fold them through. They will quickly wilt and combine with the sauce. Cover and continue to simmer gently while the chicken thighs complete cooking, stirring occasionally.

Coriander is added to spinach sauce

Just before the chicken thighs are due to come out of the oven, stir the coriander leaf in to the sauce, simmer for another couple of minutes only, then remove from the heat and set aside, still covered, to cool slightly and for the flavours of the herb to infuse in to the sauce.

Roast chicken thighs

Take the chicken thighs from the oven and pierce with a fork to ensure the juices run clear. If not, cook for 5 more minutes and test again. If they are ready, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Spicy spinach sauce bed for chicken thighs

Spoon the sauce in to the middle of a deep serving plate and spread it out to form a bed for the rested chicken thighs.

Hot and Spicy Wings, Onions and Potatoes

Hot and spicy wings, onions and potatoes

Who doesn't love chicken wings? They are tasty, succulent, satisfying, fun to eat - in fact, they tick all the important boxes and more when we are looking for something for dinner. If there is one downfall many people have, however, when it comes to particularly cooking wings at home, it is a failure to realise just how incredibly versatile they are as well as enjoyable. Do you maybe only eat them from your favourite fast food restaurant, always prepared in the same fashion? Do you cook them at home but always use the same spices and accompaniments? This is just one very straightforward idea to take wings out of any established comfort zone and hopefully and ideally get you thinking of other ways in which you can flavour and prepare these special treats.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

12 chicken wings
3 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon medium hot chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Salt
White pepper
8 baby potatoes
1 medium red onion
1 large green chilli
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaf (cilantro), plus extra to garnish

Directions

If you have the time, you could prepare the spiced oil and marinate the chicken wings for longer than in this recipe but that is not absolutely essential.

Wash the potatoes and cut them in half, unpeeled. Add them to a pot of cold, slightly salted water and bring to a simmer for about twenty minutes or so until cooked. Drain, allow to steam off for a few minutes then cover and leave to cool completely (around half an hour should be sufficient). This is quite important as if you assemble the dish for roasting when the potatoes are still hot, they will tend to absorb some of the oil rather than roast in it.

Potatoes are firstly boiled before being roasted

When the potatoes are on to cook, measure out the oil in to a large glass or stone bowl. Add the curry powder, chilli powder and garaam masala and season well with salt and white pepper.

Spices and seasonings are added to oil

Take a wooden spoon and mix the spices and seasonings in to the oil to form a lump free light paste.

Spices are stirred in to the oil

Cut off and discard the tips from the chicken wings if they are still present. Cut the main body of each wing in half at the natural joint. Add them all to the oil and carefully stir fold them around to evenly coat. Cover with clingfilm and set aside to marinade while the potatoes are cooking and cooling.

Wings are stirred through spiced oil

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Empty the chicken wings in to a large, deep, ovenproof dish, being sure to include as much of the seasoned oil as possible. Add the potatoes. Peel the onion, cut it in half down through the core then lay each half flat and slice to around a quarter inch. Separate each slice in to strands before adding to the wings and potatoes. Top the chilli before slicing thinly in to discs and also adding to the cooking vessel.

Wings, potatoes and onion are added to baking dish

You can try to combine everything using a spoon but this can lead to spillage and take quite some time. The best and quickest way by far to combine everything well is to use your hands. Be sure to wash them especially well afterwards due to handling the chilli.

Combined wings, potatoes and onion are ready for the oven

Place the dish in to your oven for a total of forty minutes, removing it to stir briefly (with a spoon this time!) half way through cooking.

Wings and accompaniments are stirred half way through cooking

When the wings are ready, scatter with the chopped coriander/cilantro and carefully stir it through.

Coriander is added to roasted wings

Set the dish aside for ten minutes uncovered to let the wings rest. Garnish with the last of the coriander immediately before serving as a sharing platter for two.

Coriander is carefully stirred through wings, onion and poratoes

Roast Chicken and Fingerling Potatoes

Roast whole chicken legs and fingerling potatoes with chantenay carrots

Fingerling potatoes are perhaps most often boiled and served with a salad rather than roasted in the oven in this way. This idea did, however, work extremely well and I will definitely cook them again in this way. They took on the full flavour of the chicken and crisped up really nicely.

Fingerling potatoes are firstly halved and boiled

Ingredients per Person

3 medium sized fingerling potatoes
2 whole chicken legs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 chantenay carrots
Little bit of butter
Little bit of freshly chopped coriander/cilantro

Whole chicken legs ready for roasting

Directions

Wash or if necessary scrub the pottoes but don't peel them and cut them in half lengthways. Add them to a pot of cold, salted water and bring the water to a simmer. Continue to simmer for about ten minutes or until the skin is just beginning to separate from the flesh at the edges. Drain, allow to steam off for five minutes then cover and allow to cool while you cook the chicken legs.

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6. Season the chicken legs on the flesh side with a little salt and pepper. Rub the skin sides of the legs with olive oil and wipe a roasting tray with a little more oil. Lay the legs skin sides up on the tray and season with a little more salt to help the skin crisp up.

Roasted whole chicken legs

Cook the chicken legs in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the juices run clear. Lift to a plate, cover and leave to rest.

Fingerling potatoes are roasted in chicken juices

Turn the oven up to 450F/220C/Gas Mark 8. Turn the fingerling potatoes carefully in the hot chicken juices in the tray with cooking tongs and cook for fifteen to twenty minutes until nicely crisped.

When the potatoes are in the oven, add the washed chantenay carrots to a pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a simmer for about ten minutes or until just softening. Drain and return to the pot. Add a little butter and chopped coriander, swirl to coat and plate up the various components of your meal.

Fingerling potatoes removed from the oven

Roast Chicken with Pork, Sage and Onion Stuffing and Deep Fried Red Potatoes

Roast chicken, pork sage and onion stuffing, deep fried red potatoes and mixed veg

It is very rare for me to stuff a chicken that is going to be roasted, least of all buy one that has already been pre-stuffed. This is because I feel it can be an invitation to unevenly - and even worse, improperly - cooked chicken. I prefer to cook anything that is ultimately to be served with the chicken separately. On this occasion, however, I couldn't resist buying this bargain priced pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken and carefully giving it a go.

Ingredients

3 to 4lb pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken
Olive oil
6 (or as required) medium sized red potatoes (halved)
1/2 pound casseroling suitable mixed vegetables
1 pint fresh chicken stock
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Freshly chopped parsley to garnish

Bargain pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken

Directions

This chicken had been reduced in price from £6.03 to £1.99, simply because it was about to reach its sell by date. That meant it had of course to be cooked on the day of purchase but that was already my intention. By the time I got it home from the supermarket, it had already reached room temperature so it was ready for final preparation and roasting. I started by getting my oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.

Pork, sage and onion stuffed chicken ready to be roasted

I lightly oiled a roasting tray and cut away the trussing from the chicken. I then weighed the bird to calculate the precise cooking time. This is vitally important and you shouldn't just take the word of the label on the pack. The cooking time is calculated by allowing twenty minutes per pound and twenty minutes extra. (Remember that if you are stuffing the chicken yourself, you should weigh it after it has been stuffed as it is the gross weight which determines the cooking time). The chicken then went in to the preheated oven for the alloted period of time.

Red potatoes

Wash the potatoes and cut them in half but don't peel. Add them to a pot of salted cold water and bring the water to a simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes, just until you can see the skin starting to separate from the body of the potatoes and no more. Carefully drain and return to the empty pot. Allow to steam off for about five minutes before covering and leaving to cool completely.

Parboiled red potatoes are drained and left to steam

These vegetables were also on bargain sale at my supermarket, reduced in price from £1.47 to 25p, making this an all round very budget friendly meal! Do be sure that even when the pack states it is not required, you do wash them thoroughly in a colander under running cold water before use.

Mixed vegetables designed for casseroling

Although the vegetables were intended for slow oven cooking, I simply cooked them on the hob in a pot. Add the required amount of vegetables to a suitable pot and pour in the cold chicken stock, bring to a simmer for about half an hour or until done (cooking time will vary depending upon type of vegetables used).

Mixed vegetables are poached in fresh chicken stock

When the chicken is ready, take it from the oven and be sure to pierce the thickest part with a skewer to ensure all the juices run clear. Leave to rest for fifteen minutes.

Roast chicken with pork, sage and onion stuffing is rested

While the chicken is resting, you should deep fry your potatoes. This can be done in a deep fryer but I prefer to do it in a deep frying pan, allowing me to better monitor the potatoes as they cook. Make sure you bring the oil up to a high heat before carefully adding the cooled potato halves. They will take around five minutes.

Red potato halves are deep fried in hot oil

The chicken could be conventionally carved but I prefer to portion it. I start by slicing off the leg portions and the wings, followed by the two breast fillets.

Starting to portion roast chicken with pork, sage and onion stuffing

Lift the potatoes to a plate covered with kitchen paper with a deep frying spider or large metal slotted spoon to drain.

Deep fried red potatoes are drained on kitchen paper

Drain the vegetable through a colander. Plate up the meal componenets (not forgetting the stuffing!) and scatter with chopped paresley as a final garnish before serving.

Roast chicken with deep fried red potatoes and mixed poached vegetables