Spanish Roast Chicken

So it’s week four of Chez Chelle already and this weeks key ingredient is CHICKEN.

I love chicken and use it in so many different ways from casseroles, to pasta dishes, to rice dishes to roasts. For this week I am going to use a roast chicken dish taken from Jamie Oliver which is absolutely delicious, I cannot recommend this way of roasting chicken enough. The flavours from the chorizo is so yummy! I have added a couple of extras to this recipe (paprika and the peppers) but they are optional.

SPANISH CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS
• 1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5cm dice – or you can use new potatoes with skins on
• 4 lemons
• a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2kg (free-range organic) chicken
• ground black pepper
• 300g good chorizo sausage
• olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
* 2 red peppers
* Few dashes of paprika

METHOD
First preheat your oven to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7/200C fan, then place your potatoes with 2 of your lemons into a small pan of water and boil for 5 minutes. Drain, and then prick the lemons all over with a knife. (The reason for doing this is that you are going to put them inside the chicken and their wonderful juices will be released while cooking. They will burst with flavour and fragrance, and the heat from the lemons will help the chicken to cook quicker from the inside as well as making it taste and smell amazing.) Remove the parsley leaves from the stalks and put to one side. Stuff the chicken with your hot lemons and the parsley stalks. Then season the chicken and the potatoes with a little ground black pepper and the paprika (I also like tom add some lemon zest but again this is my choice) and slice your chorizo at an angle, 0.5cm/¼ inch thick.

Get yourself an appropriately sized baking tray. Take a piece of greaseproof paper and wet it under a tap so it becomes flexible, then shake it out and lay it into the baking tray. Place the potatoes into the centre of the greaseproof paper, then place the chicken on top and sprinkle with the chorizo and a little of your chopped parsley. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Cook in the preheated oven for around 1 hour 20 minutes.

About 25 mins before the end of the cooking time I add some large chunks of peppers as roasted peppers are lovely with this.

While the chicken and potatoes are cooking you can make what the Italians call gremolata, by finely chopping the zest of your 2 remaining lemons and mixing it with the chopped parsley and garlic. Season lightly and toss together to create a really fragrant seasoning-type garnish. Remove the tray from the oven, take the chicken out and put to one side to rest. Give the potatoes a shake about and put them back in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up.

Carve the chicken and divide between 4 plates, with the potatoes. The potatoes will have taken on the smoky paprika flavour from the chorizo, so if there is any juice left over in the tray, pour every last drop over the plates. When you sprinkle over the gremolata it will hit the hot juice and smell fantastic. You’re going to love this one!

I serve it with salad and crusty bread mmm mmm!!