Roast Chicken and Gravy
Roast Chicken and Gravy
Steve Lister
Roast chicken is perhaps the most popular Sunday Roast here in UK. It is easy to make, each family having it?s own special way of making it. Left over bones, skin and the onions can be used to make a stock for making soup next day. Here is how I make my roast chicken.
Serves 4-6, more or less.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken of about 2.25 kg (4 1/2-5 lbs.)
A couple of small onions, 200-250 gm.
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2-3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1-2 cups water
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tsp. celery salt
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
For the Gravy:
A pinch of dry Oregano (herb)
1 tsp. celery salt
Black pepper
3-4 tbsp. plain white flour
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
500 ml. jug of hot water
Instructions
Turn oven on to 180-200C, 350-375?C, Gas mark 4-5.
Peel and cut onions into thick slices and place at the bottom of the roasting tray, to create a platform. Scatter crushed garlic on top of onions.
Sit the chicken on top of this.
Add white wine vinegar (you could use white wine!) and water to the tray.
Add a vegetable stockpot or stock cube and stir it into the liquid.
Sprinkle celery salt, pepper and sea salt liberally over the chicken.
Roast in hot oven as per instructions on the chicken packaging, about 1 1/2 hours (approximately 20 minutes per lb. or 450 gm., and 10-20 minutes extra at the end). To see if it is done, insert a skewer or thin knife into the thickest portion. The juice that comes out should be clear, and not blood stained, when cooked. Oven performances vary, so cooking times may vary a little. Make sure that the chicken is cooked through.
Take it out of the roasting tray. Tip the chicken slightly to make sure that all the juices pour from the inside back into the tray.
Leave on a large plate to cool a little, while you sort the gravy out.
Making a 'proper' Gravy is an important part of any roast dinner
Give the content of the roasting tray a good stir up with a spatula, crushing and squeezing the onions and garlic.
Place the roasting tray on the cooker, with the heat turned to medium/high
Add a pinch of oregano, pepper and about 1 tsp. of celery salt.
Stir in plain flour. It will absorb the liquid and dry up, turning into thick paste. Keep stirring all the time.
Stir in a good splash of balsamic vinegar, about 2 tablespoons.
Add hot water slowly while stirring well. A wire whisk is good for this.
When it is as thick as you want it to be, and not getting any thicker, remove from the heat. Sieve into a pan. Save the onions and other solid bits for adding to the stock for the soup.
To serve:
I serve the chicken sliced, without the skin, as most of my family do not want the skin and ?someone? tends to pinch the crispy bits while he's cutting it up!!
Slice the breast meat off and place in foil (to keep it warm). Keep the bones and bits of meat attached to one side. This is good for making stock for the chicken soup next day.
Take the legs off and cut into 2 portions each (the picture is really just showing the meat removed, not any specific process or amounts).
Serve slices of the Roast chicken breast meat/legs with vegetables of choice and either boiled or roast potatoes. Vegetables can be prepared and steamed while chicken is cooking.
Notes
Any of the seasonal vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas and cabbage will be fine. Save all the stalks, cabbage heart and bits you cut off, except the very edges that have been in the ground etc. These will go in the stock/soup. Dice them up and keep in a plastic tub in the fridge.
Pick all the bits of meat from the legs, wings and underside of the chicken and put in more foil as you will be using this tomorrow when you make the soup (once cool save in fridge).
