The Best Roast Chicken Recipe… Ever!

Ingredients

1 whole medium chicken

1 red onion, roughly chopped,

3-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped,

1 small handful fresh ginger, finely chopped,

1 small handful fresh coriander,

1 small handful fresh thyme,

A couple sprigs fresh rosemary,

1 lemon, sliced,

3-5 tbsp of All-Purpose seasoning,

1 tbsp mixed herbs,

1-2 tbsp cumin seeds, crushed,

2-3 tbsp meduim curry powder,

2-3 tbsp chilli flakes,

1 scotch bonnet

To garnish (optional)

1 whole bulb of roasted black garlic

Small handful fresh cranberries

Few sprigs fresh rosemary

Preparation

Wash the chicken with cold salty water.

Rinse.

Line a baking tray with enough foil to wrap and totally cover the chicken and place the chicken on the tray.

Start to season the chicken by placing, rubbing and massaging all of the seasonings INSIDE and outside the chicken.

Squeeze some of the lemon juice over the outside of the chicken to moisten and massage the entire outside of the chicken with the remaining seasonings that fall on the tray. Place the lemon inside the chicken with the seasonings.

Once fully seasoned, wrap the chicken tightly, folding the foil upwards.

Leave in the fridge overnight for optimum flavour. (Try to leave the seasonings to soak in for at least thirty minutes.)

Remove the chicken from the fridge and leave on a counter for at least 20-30 minutes before placing in a pre-heated oven turned up all the way.

Line the tray with a few more layers of foil and place the chicken (still in the foil from the night before) on top of these layers, again folding all the foil upwards to ensure none of the juices escape.

Place in the oven for an hour, turning the heat down to approximately 200c afterwards.

After approximately 30 minutes, carefully open up the foil and with an oven mitt, lift up the chicken to pour out the delicious juices/gravy gathered inside.

Baste the chicken with a little of the gravy, leaving the chicken uncovered but still inside the layers of foil to continue to catch the gravy and return to the oven. Repeat this process every 10-15 minutes until the chicken is sufficiently browned and remove from the oven.

Leave to stand for a few minutes and serve with whatever you fancy.

Retain the remaining gravy to use as chicken stock.

Notes

For added effect, you can place some of the sliced lemon, garlic and herbs under the skin of the chicken. These will show through nicely once the chicken has roasted and look quite cool!

You may want to leave out inserting the scoth bonnet till the end of the seasoning process so as not to burst it open. You can then just place it inside the chicken once you have finished seasoning.

The chicken stock can last about one week when kept in an airtight container and left in the fridge.