This recipe is great for one of the first roasts of the season, as the autumn veggies won’t leave you bored of your festive trimmings by the time Christmas dinners roll around.
Over-roasting your poultry is easily done. The best way to ensure you don’t do this is to cook it by temperature, not time. Use a leave-in thermometer like the DOT or RFX to monitor the temperature as it cooks, then spot-check all over using a Thermapen.
Temperatures
The optimal temperature to cook chicken to is 74 °C, any higher than this and it will start to dry out.
Tip: let it rest
When you remove a large piece of meat from the oven, the internal temperature continues to rise. This is called carryover cooking. We recommend cooking your chicken until it reaches 70 °C as the temperature will rise to 74 °C while it rests.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 lemon cut in half
- Small bunch of rosemary and thyme
- ½ a bulb of garlic
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- 2 carrots
- 4 shallots
- 2 parsnips
- 1 butternut squash
- 2 leeks
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
- Chop the vegetables, toss with oil and put into a roasting dish.
- Place one half of the lemon into the cavity of the bird and place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
- Crush the garlic, tear the herbs and mix into a bowl with some oil. Rub the mixture into the skin of the chicken.
- Squeeze the remaining lemon half over the chicken and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper.
- Set the DOT to 70 °C. Insert the probe into the thickest part of the bird, between the breast and thigh (without touching the bone). Place inside the oven and cook until the alarm goes.
- Cover the tray in tin foil and tea towels to keep it well insulated. Leave to rest for at least 30 minutes before returning to check the temperature using a Thermapen. Make sure the temperature has risen to 74 °C at the thickest part.
- Carve and serve with the autumn vegetables and plenty of gravy.
