Lazy Roast Chicken

Is there anything better than a perfectly roasted chicken?  With its crisp, browned skin and juicy, succulent flesh, it’s so simple and yet irresistible!

I post this early, so as to allow you to plan for Christmas meal. If you are just feeding barely 4 pax, do consider roast chicken instead of the traditional big fat roast turkey that takes forever to finish.

But some cooks find the idea of roasting a chicken really daunting. How to choose a nice bird? How long should I roast the bird? What is the temperature? Marinating the bird seems stressful. How long should I keep the bird marinated? Should I truss it? Do I need to baste it? If so, how often? How will you know when the bird is well cooked? Urgh!!!

Well, relax! It's Christmas soon! There’s a way to eliminate most of those worries if you read on: My lazy roast chicken guarantee foolproof, stress-free and welcoming. Just marinate it, lightly pan-seared the bird, and then roast it using high-heat and medium heat method.  It’s the easiest, fastest way to roast a chicken.

Superb flavor and nicely browned skin is the result you're gonna get. The chicken that tastes way better than those supermarket rotisserie birds, and I’m sure your guests will be impressed by the roast chicken that you presented infront of them. 

You might call this a cheat recipe due to the existence of Roast Chicken Seasoning. Yes! In a way, I do agree. But, well.... I would say, probably this is not really a recipe post. It's more like a fuss-free method for you to get your meal done! As long as you feed your guests well, who cares?

I prepared this as part of my mother in law's gathering with her friend.

Fresh Chicken, olive oil, roast chicken seasoning, rosemary, salt, pepper and strings. This is all you need! Let's get start cooking!

Ingredient

• 1 large Fresh Chicken, weight about 1 to 1.2kg
• 10g Masterfood Roast Chicken Seasoning
• 3tbsp Olive Oil
• 10g Sea Salt 
• few dashes of Pepper
• some Fresh Rosemary, about a tbsp or so. Just estimate lah.

Optional Ingredients : Some potatoes, carrot and celery. 

I just grab a large sized chicken at NTUC, cost S$6.80. Masterfood Roast Chicken Seasoning S$5.10 I think.  For fresh rosemary, I have it planted, so I could pluck it whenever I need it. If you don't have it, go Cold Storage. You could get a pack of fresh rosemary for S$2.00, available at the vegetable section.

Method 

(Marinating)

1. Clean the chicken, cut away the chicken feet and neck. Use kitchen towel to pat-dry the chicken.

2. Mix olive oil, roast chicken seasoning, rosemary, salt and pepper together. Stir well, and the marinade mixture is ready.

3. Spread the marinade mixture on the chicken and give it a good rub all over. Lift up the breast skin (be gentle, don't tear the skin), rub some marinade mixture underneath the skin too. This will give your chicken breast lots of flavor!

4. Once marinade rubbed evenly, add more rosemary all over if you want.

5. And this is the trussing part. Use the string and tie the end of the leg and join them together. However, since I did not stuff the chicken, this part is optional. You could just leave it if you are lazy to tie them up. It's perfectly alright. For appearance wise, of course if I truss the chicken, it looks kinda more presentable in a way. But well, it's individual. I will only truss it when I'm feelin' good. Oh yes! Pls make sure you are using oven-safe strings! Don't use strings that is not meant for cooking / baking ok?

6. Use cling-wrap to wrap the chicken tightly.

7. Double or even triple wrapping of course! Marinade juices leaked all over and mess up your fridge is the last thing you wanna see. Check if there's leakage. If you are still not confident, put them into a plastic bag before you throw the bird into the fridge.

This can be kept in the fridge for very long. I usually prepare this few days in advance.

So, here's the tips...

If you need it for lunch, the night before you go to bed, take the chicken out of the freezer and let it thaw overnight.
If you need it for dinner, in the morning, once you wake up, take the chicken out of the freezer and let it thaw.

Like this, the chicken is perfectly thawed at room temperature by then... perfect for roasting!


(Roasting)

1. Turn on the oven at 220 degree - top and bottom heat, fan ON.

2. Before roasting, pan-sear the chicken about a minute at each side, let it slightly browned. If you are lazy, this is optional. But for it's appearance wise, I would always want to do this before I roast it.

3. I added some potatoes, carrots and celery to roast together with the chicken. What I did is just cut them into big chunks, coat them with half teaspoon of salt, drizzle some olive oil, dashes of pepper if you want. You could even add some paprika or other spices if you want more flavor  Oh yes! You don't have to coat them with too much oil. During the roasting process, the rendering chicken fat will add enough additional fat to cook them nicely.

4. Put the chicken into the oven for 30 min. Set alarm, and go do the washing. After 30 mins, turn the oven to 190 degree, and roast for another 15 mins, and wala! You're done!

Don't worry if the chicken is too big. Well-wrapped leftovers keep a few days in the refrigerator. I love left-over roast chicken! I could just pull the leftover meat into small pieces and eat it together with my salad for lunch! No stress!

If you are hosting a Christmas lunch or dinner at your place, there's alot to organise. But well, this probably the best stress-free dish on your Christmas dining table!