Roast Chicken with Lemon Gravy
A Delicious One-Pot Warmer for Winter
This makes an interesting change from a plain roast dinner, with its tangy lemon gravy. It also saves on the washing-up, as everything is cooked together in one tray.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken, weighing approx 1.5 kg
- 2 unwaxed lemons
- Half a pint of hot chicken stock (made up from a stock cube is fine)
- 4-6 large baking potatoes
- 4 medium onions
- I glass of dry white wine or vermouth
Method:
1. Set the oven to 200 C / Gas Mark 6. Remove all packaging and any giblets from the chicken and place it into a roasting dish that is big enough to accommodate the potatoes and onions as these will be added to the dish later.
2. Cut one of the lemons in half, and lightly squeeze some of the juice over the chicken. Then insert the half-squeezed lemon into the cavity of the chicken. Drizzle a little olive oil (or lemon infused olive oil if you have it) over the chicken, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place into the middle of the oven – a chicken this size should take around one and a half hours to cook, depending on your oven.
3. You now have around half an hour to prepare the vegetables. Cut the potatoes lengthways into chunky wedges – you can peel them first if you prefer but there is really no need. Cut each onion into around 8 wedges, the whole lemon into 4 wedges, and the half a lemon into 2 wedges.
4. When the chicken has about an hour to go, remove the roasting dish from the oven and arrange the potatoes and onions around the meat. Lightly squeeze the lemon wedges over everything then add them to the potatoes and onions. Make sure the vegetables are all coated in the meat juices – if not much oil or juice has come out of your chicken then drizzle a little more oil over the vegetables. Return the tray to the oven.
5. Around 20 minutes before the meat is due to be cooked, mix the hot chicken stock with the wine or vermouth, and pour over the contents of the baking tray. If some of the potatoes are looking a little underdone, shuffle everything around so that they are on the top. Return everything to the oven for the final 20 minutes.
6. Once the chicken is done (its juices should run clear when a knife is inserted into the thickest part of the bird), remove it from the oven and allow it to rest for a few minutes before carving. Remove the potatoes, onions and lemons from the roasting dish and put into a heatproof serving dish to keep warm in the oven while you get everything else ready.
7. Now to thicken the sauce slightly: place the roasting tray onto the hob and boil the gravy for a couple of minutes until it starts to reduce down. If you prefer a thicker gravy, you could mix a little flour with a small amount of water and then whisk this into the sauce.
8. Serve the carved chicken with a good spoonful of the vegetables and some of the gravy poured over the top. Please note: the lemons wedges impart a delicious flavour, but I wouldn’t advise eating the wedges themselves unless you are particularly keen on lemon!
For other winter warmers, try baked butternut squash or spicy pumpkin soup.
