My mother's roast chicken...

As a child my favourite Sunday dinner was my mother's roast chicken, it was always the biggest treat, apart from her Portuguese/French toast, I could have eaten it every day without any complaint. It always makes me reminisce about our long car journeys to Portugal through France and Spain, when my Mum would cook up a couple of chickens to last us the two days, but apparently I'd be demanding chicken even before we'd reached Dover at 5am! When I feel ill or cold I always head off to the shops to buy a chicken for dinner, it's comforting, delicious and always lifts my spirits. Even to this day when my mother asks me what I want for dinner upon my arrival in Portugal, I say - your roast chicken Mummy!




So as the rain and grey clouds set in today off I went to get my Waitrose Free range whole chicken. It's a one pot dish and all you need to create a super easy yummy dinner is:

Preparation time 10 mins

1 whole chicken/chicken pieces (your choice)
2 lemons
6-10 cloves of garlic depending on how much you like garlic
Half a cup of olive oil
A splash of white wine
Potatoes (about 1 large potato for each person)
a sprinkling of oregano/basil/rosemary/sweet paprika
Salt/Pepper

Preheat your oven to a reasonably high temperature 180 - 200 for an electric fan oven which is what I have so whatever your equivalent would be. Chop up your potatoes into slices or chunks and lay at the bottom of the dish then place the chicken on top. Peel and crush the garlic and rub into the chicken and potatoes. Then squeeze a couple of lemons over the top and pop the remaining lemon halves into the chicken. Pour over about half a cup of olive oil (mostly over the potatoes so they don't stick to the dish) then a small glass of white wine. Finally sprinkle the herbs and paprika over dish and season. Leave in the oven for about an hour and a half or until the chicken is cooked. Be warned the smells wafting through are divine so please do hold off until that chicken is cooked through - I know it's tempting but...

I tend to serve it with steamed vegetables, tonight we've got sweetcorn, carrots and asparagus so whatever you fancy or have in the fridge. Oh a nice glass of cold Portuguese Rose. Enjoy!

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